Russia’s trade with Armenia was $1.3 billion in 2015 and is now demonstrating decrease in monetary terms while growing in physical terms, Russian Deputy Minister of Economic Development Alexander Tsybulsky said on Tuesday.
Tsybulsky attended a meeting of the working group on Russian-Armenian interregional cooperation under the intergovernmental economic cooperation commission.
“According to our statistics, trade between Russia and Armenia was $1.3 billion in 2015. It decreased by 11.6% in monetary terms. But analysis of the statistics of our trade with Armenia demonstrates that it grew by almost two percent in terms of physical volumes. The figure is not big but in the current economic conditions it is an apparent achievement. We understand that there were both external and internal reasons. First of all, it is the current global economic situation which demonstrates likewise decline of the entire global economy,” Tsybulsky said.
He said the bulk of these figures are Russian exports. “If we break down these figures into imports and exports, we will see that Russia’s exports to Armenia slightly exceeded $1 billion and decreased by 4.2% in monetary terms while growing by 1.3% in terms of physical volumes. Imports from Armenia stood at $196 million, or down by 37.4% in monetary terms and up by 6.7% in physical terms,” he said.
According to the Russian official, overall trade net of oil and gas was down by 13.8% in terms of money but up by 26% in terms of physical volumes, which was an obvious achievement. “We believe it stems from the activities of the Eurasian Economic Union with the economic privileges and possibilities it offers to our exporters and importers,” Tsybulsky said.
Russia’s cumulative investment in Armenia reaches $4.1bln
According to the official, Russia’s cumulative investment in Armenia has reached $4.1 billion.
“Russia remains a key investor to the Armenian economy. Cumulative investments stand at $4.1 billion,” he said.
According to Tsybulsky, a total of 1,260 companies and offices with Russian capital have been registered in Armenia as of today. “Companies with Russian capital account for about 30% of the entire number of companies with participation of foreign capital. It means that about a third of foreign companies present on the Armenian market are Russian companies,” he said, adding that both Russian giants, such as Gazprom and Vimpelcom, and small businesses operate in Armenia.
“This investment activity is growing along the development of Eurasian integration. Many companies are interested in gaining a foothold on the Armenian market. Armenia investors also begin to show interest and enter the Russian market,” the Russian official said.