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The approaches put at the government program may not bring economic growth, and we need new resources that may not arrive unless Armenia is part of the European economic space, economist Ashot Yeghiazaryan argued at a press conference on Saturday.

To his conviction, Armenia’s GDP growth has halted from semester through semester, tax profits as well as private transfers have decreased with all the hardships observed in the trade, construction, import, foreign investment spheres.
The economist added that the country’s state debt has rapidly grown, while a new phenomenon – capital flight - is underway with all of those factors being a result of dependent development of the state economy.

“We have appeared in a difficult situation since 2013, when a decision of joining the Eurasian Economic Union was announced cutting Armenia off the alternative development perspectives and subsequently opportunities for new resources. As a matter of fact, the government reconciles with this situation of dependent development, saying the difficult situation in Armenia is conditioned with that in Russia and consequently the situation may improve if Russia sees improvement itself,” Yeghiazaryan noted, adding negative developments set to continue throughout 2017.
 
The speaker went further suggesting the coming disengagement in 2017 would lead the country to make a choice to avoid a collapse with the only possible outcome of turning to the West.

Yeghizaryan next doubted Armenia’s potential of becoming a route for third countries to enter the Eurasian Union market, pointing out the country’s underdeveloped transport infrastructure and higher prices for electricity, gas as compared with other EEU member states.

Moreover, Armenia’s economic entities, per him, are not viewed as serious partners to foreign investors due to their powerless and dependent status enjoyed in the Russia market.

Among urgent steps to take to improve the situation is breaking away from that dependency which is possible only through the support of the West, especially in sectors like energy, transport, gas, oil supply, aviation and communication.