168: Behind the “shocking” indicators published by Gevorg Papoyan is a shameful situation

In order to show the “brilliant” work of the department he leads, Gevorg Papoyan regularly makes notes and publishes “shocking” indicators. The other day, in another post, he recorded how the industry works “miracles”.

“2026 In January-August, the volume of industrial output increased by 7.4 percent.

And the manufacturing industry has grown by 5 percent,” the Minister of Economy wrote.

Behind these “miracles”, however, Gevorg Papoyan, as always, hid the shameful situation that exists in the field he leads. Not to mention that there was a 4.3 percent decline in industry in August. The volume of industrial output has decreased mainly as a result of the deep decline of the manufacturing industry.

The decline of the industry would have been much greater if the subsoil had not been exploited so actively. Only in the mining industry there was an increase.

In August, the volumes of subsoil extraction continued to increase. Thanks to that, it was possible to mitigate the industrial crisis to some extent. But even that was not enough to prevent the decline of the industry. Probably in order to hide that decline, Gevorg Papoyan decided to share the “brilliant” successes of the department he led and distract the public’s attention. Instead, explain what is happening in the industry, why is the manufacturing industry in such a slump?

Mining certainly plays a key role in both industry and exports. But it is naive to associate the stable development of the economy with it. What’s more, the dependence of the mining industry on foreign markets is quite high, and the price fluctuations recorded here usually have a significant impact on the manifestations taking place in that branch.

Even today, the mining industry is growing at a high rate and has a direct connection with foreign markets. High prices of metals have become a serious incentive for it. However, if tomorrow it turns out that the prices of metals will decrease, these increases will stop immediately.

Let’s remind that the growth of the mining industry in the first 8 months of the year is in the range of 24-25 percent.

As a result, the share of this branch in the industry has significantly increased. Almost 24 percent of the entire industrial output is in the mining industry. Last year it was only 17.6 percent.

But the future of the economy is not the mining industry, but the processing industry. However, the weight of the manufacturing industry is decreasing.

The previous government led by Nikol Pashinyan, leader of Gevorg Papoyan, stipulated in its activity plan that by 2026 the weight of the manufacturing industry in the economy should reach 15 percent. However, not only was he unable to achieve it, but the existing one was also gradually trampled. The participation of manufacturing industry in the economy was barely 11 percent last year. Judging by what is happening now, it won’t happen anytime soon. In the first half of this year, it dropped from 8 percent.

In August, a decline of almost 7 percent was recorded in the manufacturing industry.

The production of basic metals has been reduced by more than half. Production of computers, electronic and optical devices decreased by around 64 percent, and electrical devices by more than 12 percent. The decline in the production of cars and other equipment exceeds 30 percent in August.

The production of tobacco products, clothes, and paper goods has decreased.

In the sum of all these, in August, the processing industry was in a declining situation. After that decline, the 8-month growth rate of the manufacturing industry also decreased significantly. In January-August, it was barely 5 percent. Meanwhile, only 1 month ago it was 7.2 percent.

In one month, it retreated by 2.2 percentage points, which is a rapid decline.

At this rate, very soon those increases that are still maintained will be zero. And it should not be surprising to see how they fell behind businesses. The fall in industry in August is also a consequence of seizing businesses and suppressing business. Due to political motives, many companies have been forced to stop their factoring. We are talking about dozens of companies.

No one is responsible for how much damage they caused and are causing as a result of this, both to business and to the state. They close the doors of businesses and throw people into the street. When they are pleased, they will open it or not. There is no responsibility.

Only in Armenia can it happen that, on the pretext of tax inspections, businesses will be closed and not allowed to work. There is no justification for having to stop business operations in order to conduct tax audits. How can business operations interfere with tax audits, especially since they are document audits?

It is not surprising that the consequences should be like this. The fact that the same cement market is in crisis recently, a serious deficit has arisen, is also caused by such violence and suppression of business. Cement production has also been reduced, despite the existing high demand.

If we consider that the largest producer of cement in Armenia is “Araratcement” owned by Gagik Tsarukyan, whose takeover processes started months ago, everything will be much clearer and understandable.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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