“Zhamanak” says that the International Monetary Fund expects that economic growth in Armenia will be slower this year than has been forecast by the Armenian government. The paper says the IMF projection of 3.5 percent growth is more credible than the 4.3 percent rate forecast by the government because the fund the Washington-based fund has “no current political interests in our country.”
“Zhoghovurd” reports that Armenia has sharply increased imports of cement despite the existence of two large cement factories in the country. The paper says those imports totaled over 25,000 tons in the first half of this year, up from 6,800 tons in the same period in 2016. The cement was imported from Iran, Georgia, Russia, Germany and even Tukey. “This is hardly accidental,” it says. “Engaging in manufacturing is not quite beneficial in Armenia because production costs are high.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” reports that authorities in Russia are tightening controls on imports of agricultural products from Armenia, Azerbaijan and Belarus. They suspect that the three countries illegally re-export to Russia tomatoes grown in Turkey and other countries on which Moscow imposed trade embargoes. The paper notes in this regard that official Armenian statistics showed last year an enormous surge in tomato exports to Russia. It believes that the bulk of them were Turkish tomatoes. “This year the volume of tomato exports from Armenia to Russia have drastically decreased. They will probably fall further after the latest tightening [of Russian export controls,]” concludes “Haykakan Zhamanak.”
(Lilit Harutiunian)
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