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Indeed, the global financial and economic crisis made serious corrections to our plans, President Serzh Sargsyan told in his interview to the Profile Ukrainian Magazine commenting upon the impact of the economic crisis on Armenia.

“Before the crisis, for almost ten years, Armenia’s economic development was measured by two-digit numbers. Our national debt was not big, macroeconomic indices were good. However, we always had problems due to our country’s isolation, lack of beneficial transport infrastructure, unfortunately, our economy was not sufficiently diversified. Armenia’s economic indices have increased at the expense of construction and foreign transfers received from our compatriots living abroad. Our economy was affected very much by the economic crisis, we lost 14 percent GDP,” President said stressing that even under the circumstances, we did not suspend any social program, did not delay payment of pensions, salaries.

“Though we faced many economic problems, nevertheless, we had nearly 7 percent growth in six months. I think we will finish the year with positive indices, though we can hardly completely restore what we lost in 2009,” Sargsyan said describing country’s economic condition.

In response to the correspondent’s observation that all credits Armenia receives are invested into economy, President said: “We invested all the credits into economy. Presently, our national debt is less than 50 percent GDP. It is normal. I can name a dozen countries with national debt exceeding 100 percent of GDP.”