Asia > Armenia > Economy

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Agriculture > products fruit (especially grapes), vegetables; livestock
Aid as % of GDP	11.3%		[29th of 129]
Debt > External	$1,372,000,000.00		[122nd of 136]
Distribution of family income > Gini index	37		[10th of 43]
Economic freedom	2.35		[46th of 156]
Economy > Overview Since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Armenia has made progress in implementing many economic reforms including privatization, price reforms, and prudent fiscal policies. The conflict with Azerbaijan over the ethnic Armenian-dominated region of Nagorno-Karabakh contributed to a severe economic decline in the early 1990s. By 1994, however, the Armenian Government launched an ambitious IMF-sponsored economic liberalization program that resulted in positive growth rates. Economic growth has averaged over 13% in recent years. Armenia has managed to reduce poverty, slash inflation, stabilize its currency, and privatize most small- and medium-sized enterprises. Under the old Soviet central planning system, Armenia developed a modern industrial sector, supplying machine tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister republics, in exchange for raw materials and energy. Armenia has since switched to small-scale agriculture and away from the large agroindustrial complexes of the Soviet era. Nuclear power plants built at Metsamor in the 1970s were closed following the 1988 Spitak Earthquake, though they sustained no damage. One of the two reactors was re-opened in 1995, but the Armenian government is under international pressure to close it due to concerns that the Soviet era design lacks important safeguards. Metsamor provides 40 percent of the country's electricity - hydropower accounts for about one-fourth. Economic ties with Russia remain close, especially in the energy sector. The electricity distribution system was privatized in 2002 and bought by Russia's RAO-UES in 2005. Construction of a pipeline to deliver natural gas from Iran to Armenia is halfway completed and is scheduled to be commissioned by January 2009. Armenia has some mineral deposits (copper, gold, bauxite). Pig iron, unwrought copper, and other nonferrous metals are Armenia's highest valued exports. Armenia's severe trade imbalance has been offset somewhat by international aid, remittances from Armenians working abroad, and foreign direct investment. Armenia joined the WTO in January 2003. The government made some improvements in tax and customs administration in recent years, but anti-corruption measures will be more difficult to implement. Despite strong economic growth, Armenia's unemployment rate remains high. Armenia will need to pursue additional economic reforms in order to improve its economic competitiveness and to build on recent improvements in poverty and unemployment, especially given its economic isolation from two of its nearest neighbors, Turkey and Azerbaijan.
Exports	$1,200,000,000.00		[132nd of 189]
GDP	$6,405,722,000.00		[114th of 203]
GDP > PPP	$12,875,000,000.00		[118th of 163]
GDP > Real growth rate	13.7%		[5th of 198]
GDP growth > annual %	14 annual %		[4th of 187]
GINI index	33.77		[28th of 40]
Gross National Income	$2,172,010,000.00		[125th of 172]
Human Development Index	0.759		[83rd of 178]
Income category	Lower middle income
Income distribution > Poorest 10%	2.3%		[69th of 114]
Income distribution > Richest 10%	35.2%		[33rd of 114]
Population below poverty line	26.5%		[12th of 46]
Poverty > Share of all poor people	0.03 % of world's poor		[60th of 80]
Research and development spending	0.2%		[55th of 69]

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