Armenia had more expectations from joining the Customs Union, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview with Russia’s Business FM asked about expectations from the membership.

“The situation that has developed in the world economy, in Russia, has reduced the expected effect of our membership in the Eurasian Union. But, in any case, the effect is obvious,” the president said, stressing the role of Russian currency’s devaluation that undermined Armenia's revenues.

“The most important thing here is the stability of the ruble. It is the guarantee of the realization of our agricultural products, because the contract is not always in rubles. The Armenian businessman is working in dramas. Both the ruble and the drama are tied by the dollar.”

If Armenia manages to bring exports to the level of imports in the near future, this would lead to some sort of balance and stability, Sargsyan said.

“But this requires a lot of effort. We do not buy gas for rubles and for drams, but for dollars, and we sell them for drams. And then these dramas should be turned into dollars and transferred to Gazprom. This means that we should sell brandy, tomatoes, cucumbers for dollars, so that you can then bring them to Armenia and give these dollars for gas,” he added.

Some people were doubtful about Armenia's joining the Eurasian Union, but most did not, the President said.

“We made the right choice, we see the first results. Since 2016, the economic situation has stabilized. There was little, but still growth. We registered a nearly 5 percent GDP growth over eight months. Last year, we had a big increase in deliveries of export goods both to Russia and to the markets of the Eurasian Union members, and, according to the results of eight months of 2017, compared to the same period last year, we have an increase of over 34 percent, mutual trade turnover between Eurasian Union members member states and the third countries increased by more than 25 percent,” Sargsyan said.