YEREVAN, May 18. /ARKA/. The Armenian economy is recovering faster than forecast, although the low economic activity and a weak demand persist amid the ongoing coronavirus crisis and accumulated uncertainties, chairman of the Central Bank Martin Galstyan said on Tuesday when speaking at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on financial and budget issues.
According to him, positive developments were reported by industry and services, and the growth in domestic demand was prompted by increased remittances from abroad by Armenian labor migrants and positive developments in lending to the economy.
“At the moment, we believe that gross demand is recovering more robustly than we predicted earlier in the first quarter. The next forecasts will come on June 15, but in all likelihood the growth forecasts will be revised upwards,” Galstyan said.
He noted that the industry, taking into account the growing prices of copper and the service sector, show positive dynamics and there are also positive trends in the private money transfers from the United States and other countries.
Also, according to him, there is a movement of labor migrants to Russia, which also provides an opportunity for growth. “According to our estimates, the economy is recovering faster than we predicted,” Galstyan said.
Armenian government’s GDP growth projection of 2021 is 3.2%; inflation is expected to be 4% (± 1.5%).
Earlier, Armenia’s Central Bank revised downward its forecast for economic growth for 2021 from 2% to 1.4%.
According to the World Bank, Armenia’s economy is expected to grow 3.1% in 2021 and 4.5% in 2022. The IMF’s growth forecast for 2021 is 1%. -0-