“It is a disgrace to show the nominal growth as proof of the economic development. Nominal growth, in general, has nothing to do here as the local currency is quite depreciated,” such an assessment was made by ANC leader Levon Zurabyan in an interview with Aravot.am, about the economic advancing paces and published indexes raised in the speech Serzh Sargsyan during the RPA Congress. As interpreted by Levon Zurabyan, “If we look at the real growth, the actual growth of GDP for the same period was 16.7 percent. But the change in the methodology of evaluation of GDP in 2012-2013 had played a role there due to which about 300 billion drams was added. In other words, it must be deducted too. If we calculate in dollars as to how much was the GDP, in the beginning of the same period, it was 11 billion 700 million dollars, now, it has become 10 billion 520 million, which means that it was reduced by 1 billion 200 million during his term. This means that what he presents has nothing to do with the reality.”
Levon Zurabyan said that if we compare the actual growth of GDP during Serge Sargsyan’s tenure, 16.7 percent, with the same period in Azerbaijan and Georgia, we see that the GDP in Azerbaijan is 36 percent and in Georgia 30 percent more. “This means that we are actually behind our neighbors, moreover, in the very shameful way. A simple trick has been used and some numbers are presented that are out of the context and far from the reality. The 1st year student at the University of Economics knows that it is a fiction.”
Hripsime JEBEJYAN
