Armenia faces high national debt and banking woes
By Sabina Idayatova
Armenia's national debt amounted to $3.738 billion or about 38 percent of the GDP in late 2012, acting Finance Minister Vache Gabrielyan said at a government meeting on Thursday, local media reported.
Gabrielyan said the bulk of the debt consists of direct liabilities of the government and some $594 million are the liabilities of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA).
A media report suggests that the Armenian banking system has faced a crisis related to the credit system.
The main problem is the inability to repay loans borrowed earlier from banks. The banks hope that the central bank will find major sources of funds for investment in the financial system.
The banking problem is further exacerbated by the bankruptcy of the Armenian airline Armavia. The company recently declared bankruptcy after its debt to various banks reached $50 to $60 million.
The current deplorable economic situation facing the country is forcing people to leave their homeland. Thus, the number of emigrants from Armenia continues to exceed the number of immigrants.
165,275 people left Armenia in the first quarter of this year, compared to 141,192 who arrived; thus, the negative balance is 24,083 people.
The desire to leave their home country was expressed by Armenian respondents participating in a poll of international research center Gallup World, which was conducted among citizens of 12 former Soviet countries, Novosti-Armenia reported on April 4.
Thus, 40 percent of Armenian respondents said they wanted to leave the country permanently.
The Armenian government, however, appears to lack an intention to change the situation for the sake of its people by leaving the country sidelined from regional projects because of the invasion policy against Azerbaijan, occupying the country's Nagorno-Karabakh and seven other regions, and fueling tension with neighboring countries.