Epress.am News from Armenia
When the National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia declares that Armenia has been registering economic growth, it actually does so by fabricating those numbers, reporter Hayk Gevorgyan writes in an article for Armenian “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily.
It's not just enough to fabricate an economic growth, the journalist stresses; in parallel, it's necessary to falsify a number of other statistics whereby it's possible to understand the basis for the growth. As an example, Gevorgyan brings the data provided by the Statistical Service for the first quarter of this year, according to which, Armenia has recorded an economic growth of 2.2%.
“In practice, it's hard to imagine a situation where investments in the economy are reduced, but the economy is growing. In the first three months of this year, the level of domestic investment fell by 0.1%. Foreign direct investment has decreased by two times. In other words, the replenishment of the economy has reduced significantly,” the author writes.
There are other factors, Gevorgyan notes, that prove the figures presented by the National Statistical Service are fake. In particular, in the first quarter of 2015, the volume of retail trade has decreased by 6.4% compared to the same period of last year. In the first 3 months of this year, export from Armenia has decreased by more than 23%. The number of tourists visiting the country has decreased by 4% compared to the same period of 2014.
"In short, the National Statistical Service has gone and fabricated an economic growth for at least the first quarter of 2015, without any formalities. The Prime Minister said 'there'll be an economic growth,' and the NSS just drew the numbers and considered the job done,” Gevorgyan concludes.