YEREVAN. – We have a large investment deficit; big investment projects are not coming. Babken Tunyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the National Assembly of Armenia, stated this during a meeting with journalists today.

"A number of factors affect investment," he said. “One is the very fact of revolution, because no matter how much revolution creates the basis for future economic growth, it also means some uncertainty; and that has a serious impact on investors."

According to Tunyan, the second reason is the change in the rules of the game. "The game rules that worked in Armenia do not work now," Tunyan added. “And if investors need to get their profit either by working properly or in a corruption environment, and in time, the infrastructure gap in our country has been filled at the expense of receiving money through corruption mechanisms, now that road is closed. And we are not as competitive as, let’s say Georgia, yet in terms of having a normal investment environment.

“Third, we have certain precedents that have a negative impact on big investors. For example, we have a large Western investment that has not been operating for 1.5 years [i.e., the Amulsar gold mine project], and this has a negative impact on investors. I hope it will be resolved quickly."