Armenia experiencing sharp decline in foreign trade

/By AzerNews/

By Laman Sadigova

The foreign trade of Armenia slashed by 20.4 percent -- $3.900.9 billion -- in the first ten months of 2015 compared to 2014. Everything happening in Armenia indicates that the economic crisis is worsening, posing definite problems for all fields of life.

Armenia’s aggressive policy, its ill-conceived economy and the government, which is people’s biggest enemy, block the country from major regional projects and stop it from any movement for the better.

The official data shows that the exports fell by 2.2 percent in January to October to about $1.223.4 billion, while imports plunged by 26.6 percent to about $2.677.5 billion. As a result, the trade deficit amounted to $1.454 billion and the negative trade balance in FOB prices stood at $1.041.8 billion.

Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the CIS member states declined by 17.3 percent to $1.149.8 billion (29.5 percent of the total trade), while trade with Russia fell by 14.8 percent to $989.7 million. By the way, the volume of direct investment from Russia amounted to $88 million last year, but could hardly overcome a bar of $7 million this year.

Russia, hit by the Western sanctions, is not a home of a better life for Armenians anymore. Poor citizens, every third of which lives below the poverty line, face the crisis alone in corrupted and economically weak Armenia where poverty rate reached 30 percent in 2014.

The trade with the EU countries amounted to approximately $998.6 million in January to October 2015 decreasing by 24.3 percent compared 2014.

The current situation in Armenia has appropriate reasons. In recent decades, the country’s authorities intentionally destroyed private initiatives and economic competition within the middle class, creating a plundering monopoly system that now serves the government’s interests. It is obvious that the current state of economy and its vulnerability are primarily the result of the reign of the current criminal regime in Armenia.