Saturday, May 30 2020 19:14

ArmInfo.On behalf of the Government of Armenia, Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan delivered a message at a high-level event entitled "Financing for Development in the COVID-19 Era", initiated by the Secretary-General of the  United Nations and the Prime Ministers of Canada and Jamaica.

The appeal, which was distributed by the press service of the  Government of the Republic of Armenia, in particular, notes that  against the backdrop of the most powerful crisis of our time caused  by the COVID-19 epidemic, the proposed platform is important for  discussions to understand together what this means for the global  economy and how to overcome it. "The coronavirus does not recognize  borders and nationalities. It has affected the lives of each of us,  and we can only resist it by joint efforts. Its socio- economic  consequences are already obvious and will continue to have a serious  impact on the lives of many people, as its negative trends will lead  to difficulties which will not always be the classic problems we  face.

Believing that the health and safety of our citizens are of paramount  importance, many of us have imposed various restrictions on economic  activity and free movement, which has led to disruption of supplies  worldwide. Regardless of the level of development, all economies  seriously injured. Businesses are trying to optimize the crisis in  order to overcome their costs, as people lose their jobs and as a  result reduce their costs. Unfortunately, it became clear to us that  at some point it would be difficult to intervene in this cyclic  process, since the available funds to combat the epidemic are not  enough.

As the global economy needs to develop more innovative and targeted  tools to overcome this crisis, it is more than ever clear that we  need to set new standards for cooperation and mutual support to  rebuild our economies, "said the message from the Deputy Prime  Minister.

Mher Grigoryan noted that in recent years the Armenian economy has  grown by an average of 7%. The government approved a series of  measures to mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the epidemic.   "However, our preliminary calculations show that the economy will  decline in 2020, recording a negative GDP growth of -2%. In order to  increase the economic and financial resistance of our country, we  continue to develop new measures to support our citizens, the economy  in the short-term and the medium term. As I indicated earlier, it is  important that we continue to work together to find a common language  for our interconnected world. Therefore, we call for unity,  solidarity and a global partnership to cope with the difficulties  that still have to be solved. We are ready to do everything possible  to contribute to this process.  Be healthy and safe, "said the Deputy  Prime Minister.