June 4, 2010 - 18:05 AMT
Armenia to face problems with repayment and service of state debt

Former chairman of the RA Central Bank Bagrat Asatryan said that Armenia’s foreign debt should raise concern of the authorities.

According to him, soon Armenia will face problems both with repayment and service of its foreign debt.

“If we look at 2009 indices, Armenia should work and export its production for 5-6 years and spend nothing to repay the debts. The state should not rely on remittances coming to the country,” he said.

Referring to the foreign trade balance, Asatryan said that Armenians have become a nonworking and consuming nation that is proved by the country’s import and export indices. “In fact, we do not have export, as in case of 60% growth over four months of 2010 it amounted to around $300mln, while import totaled over $1.1bln,” Asatryan said.