Armenia experiencing sharp decline in foreign trade
By Laman Sadigova
The foreign trade of Armenia slashed by 20.4 percent -- $3.900.9 billion -- in the first ten months of 2015 compared to 2014. Everything happening in Armenia indicates that the economic crisis is worsening, posing definite problems for all fields of life.
Armenia’s aggressive policy, its ill-conceived economy and the
government, which is people’s biggest enemy, block the country from
major regional projects and stop it from any movement for the
better.
The official data shows that the exports fell by 2.2 percent in
January to October to about $1.223.4 billion, while imports plunged
by 26.6 percent to about $2.677.5 billion. As a result, the trade
deficit amounted to $1.454 billion and the negative trade balance
in FOB prices stood at $1.041.8 billion.
Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the CIS member states
declined by 17.3 percent to $1.149.8 billion (29.5 percent of the
total trade), while trade with Russia fell by 14.8 percent to
$989.7 million. By the way, the volume of direct investment from
Russia amounted to $88 million last year, but could hardly overcome
a bar of $7 million this year.
Russia, hit by the Western sanctions, is not a home of a better life for Armenians anymore. Poor citizens, every third of which lives below the poverty line, face the crisis alone in corrupted and economically weak Armenia where poverty rate reached 30 percent in 2014.
The trade with the EU countries amounted to approximately $998.6
million in January to October 2015 decreasing by 24.3 percent
compared 2014.
The current situation in Armenia has appropriate reasons. In recent
decades, the country’s authorities intentionally destroyed private
initiatives and economic competition within the middle class,
creating a plundering monopoly system that now serves the
government’s interests. It is obvious that the current state of
economy and its vulnerability are primarily the result of the reign
of the current criminal regime in Armenia.
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Follow Laman Sadigova on Twitter: @s_laman93
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