18.5% recession in Armenian economy as of Jan.-July 2009 is of no surprise for Armenian authorities, RA Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan said at the August 28press conference.

He links this process and the budget performance with economic crisis. Davtyan declared budget revenue for the reported period making 359bn AMD, whereas expenditures – 426.5bn AMD. The current budget deficit was set at 4.5%.

According to the Minister’s forecast, budget deficit by end of the year will not exceed 7.5% mark reaching about 6.5%, while in 2010 it will be fixed at 5.5% with further reduction to 3% in next years.

Davtyan said 18.5% decrease in Armenian Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was conditioned by the boosted rates in 2008, that is the reason of this drastic difference compared to this year. He forecasted the stabilization of situation by 4th quarter.

On the whole, the Minister was positive pointing out that the world economy is being normalized. “There are signs that global crisis is receding and U.S. and European countries (particularly Germany) already got out of recession,” RA Finance Minister said emphasizing that this tendency will reach Armenia too.