Economist Vahagn Khachatryan does not understand why people should make investments in Armenia, “Are the streets beautifully cleaned in Yerevan? Or, we are actually much better or actually, such an economic environment is created which is better or more favorable than that of the neighboring countries, or there are no conflicts in our country, or the laws are so good and sensible that if any person comes to make investment can immediately expect a lot of money in the framework of these laws.” Mr. Khachatryan citing the NSS data said that 400 thousand people have left Armenia from 2008 to date. The balance of population leaving Armenia and not returning for the period of 2015 published in 2016, according to Vahagn Khachatryan, amounted to -48 thousand 170 people. In other words, that many people have left with no return.
Last year, the number of not returnees amounted to 43 thousand 438, “This is a snapshot of our economy. Eventually, any country when implementing its economic policy considers the opportunity of its citizens living in this country important. If people are leaving it means that these conditions are missing in our country.” According to the economist, the IMF forecast a 2.7 percent growth for us this year but by Mr. Khachatryan projection, if it is 1 percent growth it is good. Vahagn Khachatryan believes that the state debt has reached a critical point which is evidenced by the debt-to-GDP ratio which has reached 55.7 percent.
According to him, the current economic model is a failure and has consumed itself. The data issued by NSS does not inspire confidence to the economist that the export has increased by 20% as the numbers of production and export do not match each other, “Until now, we do not have the answer for tomato as to where we got 30 thousand tons of tomatoes to export to Russia.” As mentioned by Mr. Khachatryan, the economic indicators for 2016 were unprecedentedly bad while an economic growth was reported since 1994 until 2009. And the economic activity index (EAI) of 0.5 percent reported last year, according to Vahagn Khachatryan, shows that there was a “drawing of numbers” in the last 3 years.
