Epress.am News from Armenia
To achieve a growth of 6–8% a year in line with the goal set out in the Armenia Development Strategy (ADS), the Armenian government needs to accelerate productivity-enhancing structural reforms, according to the World Bank's March 2014 economic report on Armenia.
According to the report, "[a] decline in construction contributed to a significant weakening of economic growth in Armenia in 2013. Overall GDP growth was 3.5% in 2013 down from 7.2% in 2012. Construction sector value-added declined by 11.2% in 2013, partly because of delays in the implementation of the North-South transport
corridor. The decline of the construction sector offset a dynamic expansion of industry, agriculture and services.
"Inflation spiked up to 9.2% in August 2013 in the wake of energy price increases, but the 12-month inflation rate declined to 5.6% in December 2013 because of lower food prices. It still exceeded slightly the upper bound of the Central Bank of Armenia’s inflation target band of 2.5–5.5%.
"The volume of merchandise exports rose by 7.2%, and net remittances exceeded $1.5 billion, a 15% increase over 2012. Most of the higher remittances came from Russia despite the slowdown in economic growth in that country. After the successful issue of Eurobonds, the Armenian government repaid its outstanding debt to Russia, thus alleviating medium-term pressures on its external and fiscal accounts.
"For a third year in a row, the execution of public capital spending was lower than budgeted. Tax revenues were in line with the budget because of improved tax administration, policy measures that expanded the tax base, and a one-off license fee paid by the fourth mobile phone operator."