YEREVAN, October 12. /ARKA/. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says in its latest World Economic Outlook report for October 2021 that it expects Armenia’s economy to grow 6.5% in 2021 and 4.5% in 2022.
The forecast is up from 1% growth forecast made by the IMF in its previous report released in April, which predicted also a 3.5% growth for 2022.
According to the latest IMF report, consumer prices in Armenia will grow by 6.9% in 2021 and by 5.8% in 2022, up from previous forecasts of 3.9% for 2021 and 3.2% for 2022.
IMF experts predict that the unemployment rate in Armenia will be 18.5% in 2021 and 18.3% in 2022. In April, the IMF expected that the unemployment rate in Armenia in 2021 will be 18.5%, and 18.3% in 2022.
The World Bank said in its latest ‘Europe and Central Asia Economic Update’ report that following a faster-than-expected recovery in H1, the projected Armenia’s GDP growth rate for 2021 has been revised to 6.1 percent, up from 3.4 percent in April 2021,
According to the report, in the absence of renewed lockdowns or serious domestic or regional instability, the economy is expected to return to pre-COVID output levels by mid-2022.
According to the IMF World Economic Outlook report for October 2021, the global economy is projected to grow 5.9 percent in 2021 and 4.9 percent in 2022, 0.1 percentage point lower for 2021 than in the July forecast. The downward revision for 2021 reflects a downgrade for advanced economies—in part due to supply disruptions—and for low-income developing countries, largely due to worsening pandemic dynamics.
This is partially offset by stronger near-term prospects among some commodity-exporting emerging market and developing economies. Rapid spread of Delta and the threat of new variants have increased uncertainty about how quickly the pandemic can be overcome. Policy choices have become more difficult, with limited room to maneuver.