By Hovannes Shoghikian
Armenia has seen a dwindling output of its industrial enterprises so far this year, according to the data of a monitoring conducted by the country’s Economy Ministry.Hayk Mirzoyan, a Ministry official in charge of economic development according to branches and territories, told the media on Wednesday that despite the overall decrease in industrial output observed during the first ten months of 2008, the statistics improved in October to show a 1.4 percent increase.
“However strange it might be, the jewelry sector has worked with a growth in the last two months. But it is yet early to assume this growth will be stable, since a price fall is currently observed on the world markets,” said Mirzoyan. “And the developments during these two months have been conditioned by the availability of customer orders for several companies.”
The monitoring conducted by the Ministry registers a decline also in the chemical industry mainly triggered by a falling demand.
“Influenced by the global crisis, foreign partners have reduced their demand,” the Ministry representative explained.
The monitoring data also shows that despite the continuing global economic crisis some growth has been registered in Armenia’s machine-building sector, albeit some of its branches still have shown a decline. Armenia’s underperforming light industry also appears to be experiencing the adverse affects of the world crisis.
Mirzoyan said a council attached to the prime minister will be set up soon to alleviate the impact of the global crisis on the country’s developing economy. He said the council would discuss “specific problems of specific enterprises caused by the crisis in order to provide prompt solutions.”
“The next step is providing state guarantees,” said Mirzoyan. “The government will provide guarantees to large companies, small and medium-sized enterprises according to their needs to ensure they can receive affordable loans without having problems with pledges.”
Mirzoyan stressed, however, that guarantees will be provided only to enterprises that submit “normal business projects.”