Armenia’s PM seems to be the only person concerned with investments: economist

To attract investments it is not just necessary to register a growth in the monopolization rate.

The absence of investments is agreed with a number of objective reasons like Armenia’s geopolitical position, country’s blockade and restricted consumption market, economist Tatul Manaseryan said, speaking to Aysor.am, referring to the post of PM that Armenia is among best 20 countries regarding the anti-monopoly policy which is an important signal for potential investors.

“At the same time the improvement of monopolization index of the country is welcomed. Among the impediments for investors was the level of monopoly in the country. It is not a secret that during the years of independence no serious investments were allowed in Armenia but the investors who have more flexible way of thinking may view Armenia as a pipe taking to Eurasian Economic Union or from EAEU to Iran and EU. All the mentioned directions ensure big consumption markets while Armenia has high-level relations with all the involved countries,” he said.

Manaseryan said that Armenia needs to develop economic diplomacy but for it coordinated changes must be made.

“We must have not only foreign investments but domestic as well. It will create new opportunity for foreign investors to see the existence of healthy investment environment in Armenia and realize that their entrance to the Armenian market may be successful,” the economist stressed.

As to why no big investments have been registered in Armenia till now and what the Armenian authorities must do to make our investment field attractive, Manaseryan said, “My impression is that our Prime Minister is really concerned with the issue of investments. He does everything and uses his visits to other countries. But  I think it is now enough, all must think about investments. All must search for investments and make investments on their own. One invests sums, the other ties, so by saying investments we must understand broader meaning. If everyone is concerned with the issue, the investments will be found,” the economist said.