Armenia
Bangkok (UN Information Services) – Armenia, among the fastest growing global economies, is set to report double digit growth in 2008 after expanding by 13.8 per cent in 2007 with the gains broad-based and buoyed by a doubling in the wheat harvest, according to the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).
In its Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific, ESCAP said that growth was set to reach ten per cent in 2008 and “at least” eight per cent in 2009. The main drivers for the expansion included the construction, agriculture and services sectors over recent years. “Growth in construction was strong owing to new investment in industrial production and to a boom in residential and office development,” ESCAP said.
Besides contributions from areas such as trade and communications, agricultural output grew by 9.6 per cent in 2007 with the wheat harvest totaling 450,000 million tons.
ESCAP says the main priorities for 2008-2009 will include improving governance and reducing poverty, increasing tax collection through the abolition of tax exemptions, and improving the operating environment for small and medium-sized businesses.
But ESCAP also points to rising food prices and further growth in wages and household income as consumer price inflation has risen from 2.9 % in 2006 to about 4.4 % in 2007.
Further information on the Survey can be found at:
www.unescap.org/survey2008
For more information, please contact:
Hak-Fan Lau, UN Information Services, ESCAP
Tel.: +66-2-288-1866, Mob.: +66-84700-1147
Email: unisbkk.unescap(at)un.org
Ari Gaitanis, UN Information Services, ESCAP
Tel.: +66-2-288-1862, Fax: +66-2-288-1052
Email: gaitanis(at)un.org
