Armenia's Minister of Economy believes international organizations' forecasts on country's GDP to be understated. In response to parliament members' questions, the minister said that international organizations' forecasts on Armenia's economic growth have usually been lower than it is in reality. According to him, 2014 was not exclusion and he believes that 2015 will not be exclusion, either. The first two months of 2015 have already been rather harsh for the Armenian economy; nevertheless, there has been a 2.5% growth in the economic activity. At the same time Chshmarityan acknowledged the 2015 export slump - not considering the EEU statistics. "Nevertheless, export incentive and fund-raising are of priority for the government", he said. He spoke about the possible risks mentioned in the 2014-2025 economic growth project (that was approved in March 2014). Externally influenced these possible risks might significantly affect the target indicators. Within this framework the government operates in a broader field - involving all the bodies. All the investment projects are separately discussed and measures on raising money for the projects are assumed. He emphasized the importance of further boosting of business activity and the improvement of business environment.
Chshmarityan stressed that the government adheres to 2 economic development scenarios - both negative and optimistic. These two envisage actions on export activation, economic growth, and maintenance of national rates. "There is one task - enable the profit improvement as consequence of investment activity increase and domestic investments. We will consequently have a big economic base and higher fiscal revenue. The problem solution considers short-term, middle-term and long-term growth policies", said the minister.
To remind, international financial bodies are still damping their forecasts on the Armenian economic growth in 2015: EDP forecasts a 3.8% GDP growth, EBRD and IFM - 0% stagnation, ADP- 1.6% GDP growth, American rating agencies have their own estimations: Fitch forecasts moderate recession because of the situation deterioration in Russia, while Moody Agency forecasts a 2.3% growth. The RA Central Bank estimates the country's 2015 economic growth 0.4-2% rolling back the previous 3.2-3.5% indicators.