Russian investment in Armenian economy drops 30% in 2009

Interfax, Russia
Jan 20 2010

Russian investment in Armenian economy drops 30% in 2009

YEREVAN Jan 20

Russian investments in the Armenian economy last year amounted,
according to preliminary data, to $300 million or 30% less than in
2008, Russian Trade Representative Alexander Zaitsev said at a
Wednesday press conference in Yerevan.

Overall Russian investment in the republic has reached $2.5 billion,
Zaitsev said. It could grow substantially – to $5 billion – in the
next few years if Russia’s involvement in the building of a new
nuclear-power generating block is factored in.

Zaitsev attributed the drop in Russian investments last year to the
negative effects of the world economic crisis, which also prompted a
reduction in Russian-Armenian trade turnover that will not reprise the
2008 level of roughly $1 billion until 2012.

Official stats indicate that Russia invested $191.9 million in Q1-Q3
last year, and was the republic’s largest foreign investor for the
period.