By Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza
Russia has opened the doors of its huge market to countries that were not involved in exchange of sanctions between the West and Russia. The countries, one of which is Armenia, have found new opportunities and favourable conditions to make use of new commercial advantages and stimulate exports.
A large group of entrepreneurs has taken part in recent talks in Yerevan about organizing exports in the context of the new conditions. Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan said that the government was ready to provide all the necessary financial and organizing assistance to businessmen willing to export products to Russia. Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan assured that Armenia could double exports to Russia: “In various years since Soviet times, we have been exporting up to 70-75% of our fruit and vegetable products to Russia.”
Proper and timely use of opportunities will have a positive impact on both the economy and the social sector of Armenia. The multi-faceted nature of the commercial sector includes such important parameters as correlation of exports and imports, the state of production and financial potential, the level of investments, etc. In this aspect, it is worth analyzing the readiness of Armenia for the new opportunities.
In the last two years, the level of investment in the country’s economy has basically turned into foreign injections. One of the reasons for that is imitation of reforms. The IMF has pointed out the need for reforms. Another essential problem hindering an appropriate and timely reaction to the new situation is imports exceeding exports by about $3 billion. The great transcendence of imports over exports is one of the key problems of the Armenian economy.
Samson Avetyan, an economist and founder of the Arrow Global investment company, believes that the governmental debt of Armenia and emigration have increased because the country imported more than it exported in the past few years. “Armenia, in terms of exports, has no diversity and, in this case, it cannot develop the agricultural sector and the IT sector alone. If we want to export to Russia, we will need big volumes. Quaere, do we have such volumes?” says Avetyan.
Gagik Makaryan, the head of the Union of Employers of Armenia, supposes that processing factories are operating at a load of 50% or 25%. Some economists are confident that Armenia may boost production of agricultural products but it needs infrastructure for processing, storage and logistics. The volumes of canned food, juice and wine produced in Azerbaijan can be tripled; consequently, Armenia will become a major exporting state. However, other economists consider such optimism hasty and unjustified. “Russia’s ban on imports of European goods does not mean that Armenia has such amazing opportunities to flood the Russian market with its products. Approaches toward the issue could be more serious and realistic. We should have thought about the problem of assisting national manufacturers earlier, including in exports, instead of waiting for a lucky chance, in other words, the response to sanctions by Russia against the West, to use it,” speculates economist Vardan Bostanjian.
Armenia will probably make use of the benefits offered, although the country was unprepared for the sudden favourable conditions.
The country has been unprepared for favourable opportunitiesBy Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for Vestnik KavkazaRussia has opened the doors of its huge market to countries that were not involved in exchange of sanctions between the West and Russia. The countries, one of which is Armenia, have found new opportunities and favourable conditions to make use of new commercial advantages and stimulate exports.A large group of entrepreneurs has taken part in recent talks in Yerevan about organizing exports in the context of the new conditions. Prime Minister Ovik Abramyan said that the government was ready to provide all the necessary financial and organizing assistance to businessmen willing to export products to Russia. Agriculture Minister Sergo Karapetyan assured that Armenia could double exports to Russia: “In various years since Soviet times, we have been exporting up to 70-75% of our fruit and vegetable products to Russia.”Proper and timely use of opportunities will have a positive impact on both the economy and the social sector of Armenia. The multi-faceted nature of the commercial sector includes such important parameters as correlation of exports and imports, the state of production and financial potential, the level of investments, etc. In this aspect, it is worth analyzing the readiness of Armenia for the new opportunities.In the last two years, the level of investment in the country’s economy has basically turned into foreign injections. One of the reasons for that is imitation of reforms. The IMF has pointed out the need for reforms. Another essential problem hindering an appropriate and timely reaction to the new situation is imports exceeding exports by about $3 billion. The great transcendence of imports over exports is one of the key problems of the Armenian economy.Samson Avetyan, an economist and founder of the Arrow Global investment company, believes that the governmental debt of Armenia and emigration have increased because the country imported more than it exported in the past few years. “Armenia, in terms of exports, has no diversity and, in this case, it cannot develop the agricultural sector and the IT sector alone. If we want to export to Russia, we will need big volumes. Quaere, do we have such volumes?” says Avetyan.Gagik Makaryan, the head of the Union of Employers of Armenia, supposes that processing factories are operating at a load of 50% or 25%. Some economists are confident that Armenia may boost production of agricultural products but it needs infrastructure for processing, storage and logistics. The volumes of canned food, juice and wine produced in Azerbaijan can be tripled; consequently, Armenia will become a major exporting state. However, other economists consider such optimism hasty and unjustified. “Russia’s ban on imports of European goods does not mean that Armenia has such amazing opportunities to flood the Russian market with its products. Approaches toward the issue could be more serious and realistic. We should have thought about the problem of assisting national manufacturers earlier, including in exports, instead of waiting for a lucky chance, in other words, the response to sanctions by Russia against the West, to use it,” speculates economist Vardan Bostanjian.Armenia will probably make use of the benefits offered, although the country was unprepared for the sudden favourable conditio
