This January-May, 8.8% economic growth was registered in Armenia, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated at the 16th sitting of the Board of Trustees of the Armenian National Competitiveness Fund.

He pointed out three factors accounting for the economic growth. “First, along with the world economy, the Armenian economy is recovering. The agricultural sector registered 1% growth, the construction sector about 12%. The construction volume doubled in Armenia this May as compared with this April. Unemployment is decreasing, wages are rising in both private and government-financed sectors,” the Premier said.

The second factor is the Government-implemented anti-crisis measures to form a favorable environment for small and medium-sized businesses.

Premier Sargsyan also presented the information of tax and customs revenues, as well as on social tax revenues for the first half of this year. They totaled 270bn AMD – 111.6% of the plan.

“It means we will be able to consolidate macroeconomic stability and reduce the budget deficit in the GDP down to 4.5% instead of the planned 6.5%,” the RA Premier said.

The third factor is a stable exchange rate due to the Central Bank’s monetary policy, which has a positive impact on prices. “We are entering the deflation stage. We are going to have deflation during the next few months, and an annual deflation rate of 5-6 per cent is quite realistic,” Sargsyan said.