Monday, June 7 2021 17:46

ArmInfo. Head of the Hayastan bloc, second president of Armenia Robert Kocharian is sure that it is very easy to increase the annual volume of investments in Armenia to $ 1  billion, Kocharian said on June 7 during a meeting with voters in the  Meghri community of the Syunik region of Armenia.

According to Kocharian, over the past three years, foreign  investments in the republic have been almost zeroed, which has become  one of the reasons for the current crisis in the economy.

Meanwhile, as the second RA President pointed out, during the years  of his presidency, investments exceeded $ 4 billion from $ 125  million accumulated over the years of Armenia's independence. "By  today's standards, the amount is $ 6 billion," he explained.

Earlier, presenting the economic agenda of the electoral program, a  member of Kocharian's team, bank consultant Alexander Khachaturyan,  stated that the political force will actively work with foreign  investors, especially those who are already present in Armenia. It is  planned to attract $ 500 million of investments in the next year  alone, and it is planned to attract $ 3 billion in five years. The  government will do everything to improve the business environment.  The Cabinet of Ministers will intervene in the work of the business  only if there is a need for something to help.

According to statistics, the volume of total foreign investment (all  types and forms of investment, Ed. note) in the real sector of the  Armenian economy in January-December 2020 compared to the same period  in 2019 decreased by 39% (against 19% growth a year earlier),  amounting to in 2020, $ 1.8 billion. The share of FDI in total  foreign investment in January-December 2020 accounted for 26% (versus  20% a year earlier) or $ 466 million, which is 21% lower than in 2019  (versus a 2% decline a year earlier).

To note, the RA Statistical Committee publishes data on foreign  investments once a quarter, indicating them in AMD equivalent and in  the form of gross flow - the accumulated volume (without redemption)  from 1988 to the reporting date, in this case to December 31, 2020.   To prepare this material, ArmInfo specialists independently  calculated the annual volumes, taking as a basis the statistics of  the gross flow in the corresponding periods of 2020 and 2019. (The  estimated exchange rate of the dram as of December 31, 2020 was  522.59 AMD / $ 1). Such statistics do not provide real figures for  investment receipts for a specific period of time, but they show the  general dynamics and trend.

To recall, in 2019, the volume of total foreign investments in the  real sector of the Armenian economy grew by 19%, amounting to $ 2.97  billion, while a year earlier the growth was more modest - 8%. In its  composition, in 2019 the volume of FDI decreased by 2%, amounting to  $ 592 million, against a more significant decline of 11% in 2018. The  share of FDI in total foreign investment decreased in 2016-2019 from  35.2% to 20%. On a country-by-country basis, Russia holds the lead in  terms of total investment and FDI.