Economy should be developed through export promotion, but hardly anything is done in this field, Vazgen Safaryan, Chairman of the Union of Native Commodity Producers NGO, told journalists on October 25. Comparing Armenia’s GDP in the Soviet period and present day, he said that the country’s GDP totaled 14.9 billion rubles (U.S. $20 billion) in 1988. Industry’s share in the country’s economy was 67% against 21% now. With such figures, Armenia cannot have powerful industry.

As regards the current industrial indicators, when the economic growth decreased fro 8.8% this May down to 2.8%, Safaryan accounted for it by the low rates in the Armenian agricultural sector. He forecasts 4% economic growth for the end of this year. It is a positive factor, as a 14.4% decline was registered last year.