“Armenia could not amortize budget deficit, like many countries did due to abundant raw material resources and well-established funds,” RA Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan told journalists today commenting on Armenia’s economic recession poor rates compared to other CIS states.

“Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have large savings that help to cover their budget deficit. Lacking these resources, Armenia was more vulnerable to the global crisis. It was more impacted as is more dependent on international markets,” said Davtyan adding that the economy of scale also matters. “Countries with small economy, including Baltic States, are in the same state and recession there is even deeper than in Armenia. They had lay offs in social field, including a banking sector,” the Minister concluded.