YEREVAN. – Armenia’s economic growth in 2013 may make between 3 and 4 percent, said Henry Kerali, World Bank’s regional director for South Caucasus.

Kerali, who arrived in Yerevan to discuss with the government the details of a new Country Partnership Strategy for 2014-17, told the media that this is not a bad achievement compared to the IMF’s latest global outlook of 2.9 percent.

Russian economy, to which Armenia is closely linked in terms of non-commercial remittances, will perform below average with 2.5 percent of year-end growth, “despite its enormous natural resources”. 

The World Bank group has not yet completed Armenia’s estimate for 2014, but hopes that it will deliver 4 to 5 percent of growth. This is twice the forecast of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (2.5%), but, Kerali clarified, it is caused by differences in methodology and weight of certain economic aspects in the final forecast.

The latest Country Partnership Strategy, approved by the WB on November 7, envisages a disbursal of $873 million in 2014-17 through different institutions of the Group (IBRD, IDA and the IFC).