2% Economic Decline in 2010, Says Former Chair of Armenia’s Central Bank

Member of the Armenian National Congress’ committee on economic issues, former chair of the Central Bank, Bagrat Asatryan, in response to a question by Tert.am at a press conference today, said that the decline in the economy will continue in the coming year.

“We are going to be dealing with a decline, I think, of around 2%, not more,” announced Asatryan. As a result of following the discussion on the 2010 budget, Asatryan came to the conclusion that “there is no guarantee that the economic decline will cease in the coming year.”

Continuing, the former chair of the Central Bank stated that the only sector where a rise in the economy is possible is in construction — a sector that the government is preparing to invest in. In this sector, however, according to Asatryan, the rise will be only 1–2%. Asatryan is convinced that there is no such guarantee that there will be an economic rise in, for example, the industry or trade and services sectors.