Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Ministry of Economy to participate in the discussion of the activity report 2023 of the Ministry.

Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan and deputy ministers made reports.

The minister noted that the budget of the Ministry of Economy in 2023 was 64.3 billion AMD, in 2024 it will be 47 percent more, which is due to the implementation of planned new programs. Allocations will reach 90.8 billion AMD. Vahan Kerobyan noted that economic growth of 8.3-8.5 percent is expected for this year. It was reported that the volume of investments increased by 17.5 percent compared to the previous year, the volume of productivity is expected to reach 9.6 percent, and Armenia is improving its position in terms of GDP per capita. If in 2017 our country was in 122nd place among the countries of the world, in 2020 - 112th, in 2023, according to the forecasts of the International Monetary Fund, Armenia will be in 86th place.

It was reported that in the current year, about 44,000 new jobs were created in Armenia, the average salary increased, and the poverty rate decreased from 26.5% to 24.8%. The minister added that the unemployment rate was 11.7 percent according to the data of the second half of the year and reminded that the government's target is to reduce the unemployment rate below 10 percent. It is expected that the total trade turnover will make 110 percent of the GDP, which, according to the minister, is a record high indicator. It is expected to end the year 2023 with an export-GDP ratio of 54.5 percent. The government's target is 60 percent.

Prime Minister Pashinyan noted that the government's target should continue to be 7-9 percent annual economic growth. "Apart from the year of the war and the coronavirus, we have not had a problem with economic growth. In 2019, we had a very high economic growth, in 2021, when there was an internal political crisis, there were snap parliamentary elections, there were external security problems, we again achieved an economic growth of more than 5 percent. In 2022, we ensured 12 percent economic growth, in 2023 we will ensure more than 7 percent economic growth. These percentages under the conditions of all that.

One of the most important prerequisites is that against all odds, macroeconomic stability has been ensured. The tools at our disposal for ensuring 7 percent economic growth in 2024 are already sufficient, in my opinion, if we increase the quality of capital expenditures, improve business processes, etc. I suggest that we should focus on using the tools we have at hand. What does the government have to do? It has a task to increase the efficiency of expenditure. The number of capital expenditures in the budget has increased significantly, if the quality of implementation of these expenditures increases a little, business processes for investments are improved, all this will obviously have an effect on economic growth," said the Prime Minister.

Next, the programs implemented in the field of agriculture, the total budget, gross output, growth and development trends were presented. It was noted that the budget of the agricultural sector was planned at 37 billion AMD this year, but the total expenditure reached 47 billion AMD. The budget of agricultural development programs increased 7 times compared to 2018. The growth of the gross agricultural product during the 9 months of this year was 1.7 percent. It was reported that 664 units of agricultural equipment, including 193 tractors and 5 combines, were purchased within the framework of the agricultural equipment leasing program. The total amount of leasing was 3 billion AMD, the active portfolio is estimated at 15 billion AMD. During the reporting period, 1.8 billion AMD were collected in the field of agricultural insurance, compensation for damages was 2.6 billion AMD.

In the current year, 1967 hectares of intensive gardens were established under the intensive horticulture development program. The annual target set by the government is 1000 ha.

The new program of greenhouse farms has been approved, the investment plans for building greenhouses with a total area of 5 ha are already in the stage of being concluded. In the framework of the program to promote the production of autumn wheat, the area of increased sowing areas was about 15,000 ha, the number of beneficiaries was 22,483. Within the framework of the major investment program of livestock breeding, three contracts worth around 18.5 billion AMD were signed during the reporting period. The process of concluding 4 more contracts is underway, the estimated investment amount is 22 billion AMD.

91 contracts were signed for the purpose of planting 6.9 hectares of gardens in Berkaber and Khashtarak settlements of Tavush region under the pilot project of planting gardens and introducing modern irrigation systems in the plots near the houses.

Through the agri-food equipment leasing program, 435 units of processing equipment were purchased and new post-harvest infrastructure was established. The leasing amount was 5 billion AMD.

Under the agricultural raw materials investment program, applications worth 5.7 billion AMD were approved, 870 million AMD was provided as a subsidy for the purchase of grapes, 700,000 liters of white cognac were purchased, and in return, the appropriate procurement was carried out. 86,000 tons of fruits/vegetables, 160,000 tons of grapes were procured. The package of laws "On raw grape spirits" was developed, the experience of French brandy production was studied and an agreement on cooperation was reached.

The officials also reported on the provision of seeds for agricultural crops through the implementation of local seed breeding and seed production, introduction of the planting material certification system, numbering and recording of farm animals, vaccination of farm animals and other activities. It was noted that as of December 15, 568 thousand 622 cattle were numbered and counted.

Within the framework of the construction or reconstruction of small and medium-sized "Smart" cattle sheds, since the start of the project, from 2019 until now, 94 contracts have been signed, 51 cattle sheds have been put into operation. The program is now being improved.

Measures aimed at promoting exports were also presented. In the current year, Armenian companies participated in 8 international exhibitions, tasting-presentations and master classes in the target markets.

Referring to the agricultural sector, Nikol Pashinyan noted: "Basically, we should stop saying agriculture and understand only agriculture. Agriculture is food security. This is a matter of food security, and we should look at the sector with that logic. When doing the cost-benefit calculation, we must take this component into account as well."

At the same time, the Prime Minister emphasized the programs aimed at the development and increasing the efficiency of the agricultural sector and emphasized the need for their continuous improvement.

Next, reports were made on investments, industrial policy, quality infrastructures, exports, ongoing works in strategic areas. The "Infrastructures for Investments" program and the Shirak "dry" port project were presented.

In particular, it was noted that the following investment programs were approved by the government in 2023: the "Aragats" ski complex construction project, the investment volume of which is estimated at 200 million USD, the WTC "World Trade Center" project at the volume of 212 million USD, the "Golf club and academy establishment" program at the volume of 172 million USD. 11 thousand 150 new jobs are planned to be established with the above programs. It was noted that the Shirak dry port project was presented at the session of the Public Investment Committee, the total investment is estimated at 350 million USD.

During the period of 2019-2023, the volume of investment projects of companies that received the privilege of exemption from customs duty reached 267 billion AMD. In 2023, 72 investment projects benefited from it, the total volume of which is estimated at 777 billion AMD. 4146 new jobs are expected to be created. At the same time, 270 million USD were invested and 1000 jobs were created with the investment programs of "Dzulakentron" and "ASCE Group" companies.

The works on the development of quality infrastructures were presented, as well as the works carried out by the Department of Trade and Integration within the framework of the EAEU, in particular, tariff privileges were provided for a number of agricultural products, for the duty-free import of electric motor vehicles into Armenia, in particular, 8000 cars were planned for 2023.

It was reported that in January-October 2023, more than 381 thousand carats of processed diamonds worth 333 million USD were exported from Armenia. The export volume increased by 38.5 percent compared to the same period last year.

Within the framework of the development of the quality infrastructure system, the Accreditation Law was adopted, and work was carried out to develop laboratory and metrology capabilities.

In the current year, the budget for export promotion and entrepreneurship development amounted to about 10 billion AMD, and in 2024 this number will double, reaching 21 billion AMD. 3 main interventions are planned by the Government Action Plan: technological modernization, involvement of highly qualified specialists and promotion of the use of digital tools. With the first two points, there are approved programs that are working. Within the framework of the economy modernization measure, the portfolio is 189 billion AMD, 3270 contracts were signed. According to the officials, the program has a wide regional distribution.

Within the framework of the program for attracting highly qualified specialists, 28 organizations are beneficiaries, which paid 46 percent more taxes in 2023 than in 2022.

Reference was also made to the activities implemented and planned in the direction of the development of the capital market and raising the level of financial literacy of citizens.

In this context, the Prime Minister noted. "Instabilities in the global market also contribute to the development of our capital market. For example, there are companies that have problems attracting funds from outside, and they issue in the capital market of Armenia, which is not bad. I consider this very important, because I want to remind you that this was emphasized as a provision in the Government program of 2018.

In fact, we also have a problem with financial literacy among citizens. The important feature of the capital market is that people understand the opportunity it creates for them. Because if a person has savings today, he usually takes them to the bank, which is normal. But people should also see the alternative opportunity.

The work related to financial literacy concerns not only the Ministry of Economy. We also have an agreement on this issue with the Central Bank and our partners who manage pension funds, who also consider it necessary, because the issue of financial literacy is important for them, so that beneficiaries can also communicate with each other about how pension funds are managed, etc. A good partnership can be established in the Central Bank-Ministry of Economy-Pension Fund Managers format. It is also necessary to make public awareness campaign about what this issue is and why we attach so much importance to it. Finally, financial literacy is a serious problem in the Republic of Armenia. It's a very deep issue, and we need to fundamentally understand how we address it."

The investment attraction program, which has 21 measures in 3 directions, was presented. There are three directions of reforms: investment policy, investment privileges, institutional structure. Regarding the improvement of the business environment, it was noted that Business Ready will replace the Doing Business indicator and the assessment on Armenia will be published starting from 2025, assessing the business environment in 2024.