Business & Economy

The year-end is a time when we summarize all that has happened throughout the year. The media tries to do that by the demand of the society. It is much easier to make a summary about the social/political life, than it is for the economic. The reason for this is that the statistics for economy are ready three months after the New Year-at a time when there no longer is a demand to talk about the economy. Now we have the entire image of the country’s economy as of November 1. It gives us the opportunity to picture and analyze the economy as a whole. Official statistics show that our economy is growing and proves that it has been rising due to two fields-construction and agriculture. Both construction and agriculture show a 14% rise respectively. The tendencies for rise in construction are overwhelming. The authorities are pleased to see the rise in both fields. For me personally, it is a little strange to see the authorities getting excited about agriculture. Agriculture in Armenia reminds me of the book called “Spain without a backbone” by Jose Ortega. In his book, Ortega writes that the village life has turned into something that characterizes social life in Spain. People’s thoughts and feelings are all connected to the values and flaws of that lifestyle. “In Sevilla (a city that has a 3,000 year old history) you will never find a real citizen.” I recalled this phrase not to refer to us, saying that you can’t find one real citizen in the authority elite. The country’s official analyses of economy, according to Ortega, are “littered with the village spirit.” It is that spirit that spreads and, according to the Minister of Agriculture, will exceed the level of economy of that of 1989. That is why no minister is interested in the result of the inner economy. No official pays any attention to the fact that agriculture is rising 14%, but industry is at 1.5%. Nobody sees anything unusual about this, so why even bother changing it? It has gotten to the point where a 7th grade student already knows that the level of urbanization shows signs of development in the country. The student also knows that agrarian countries are considered weak or deformed. I don’t recall any official naming our country as agrarian. Meanwhile, that is what the statistics show. During the past ten years, agriculture has been kept at a 25-40% Gross National Product (GNP). In 2003, it was more than 25%. During the months of January-October 2004, it has already reached the 26% mark and beyond. In addition, that is exactly how much the specific balance says. This means that industry and agriculture in Armenia have the same results. We would be exaggerating if we called a country where both industry and agriculture are equal agrarian, if of course, we didn’t take into consideration what industry really means in Armenia.

The produce section of the industry in Armenia makes profits of 35-45% each year. The 40-60% GNP consists of the agricultural products and their cultivation. In this case, I don’t think I am exaggerating when I say that we are an agrarian country. The positive outcome of the economy is hard to compare with other statistics. Foreign economy is totally different. Imports exceed exports by two times. This became worse during the year. Exports rose by 1.5% this year compared to 2003 and imports went up 4%. After the final review of the year, it will turn out that the least amount of foreign trade is $500-600 million dollars. This means that that much money was taken out of the country for imports. Everyone knows how that money gets to Armenia. The Diaspora had transferred that much money to the friends and relatives living in the Homeland up until August through money transfers. If we take into consideration the fact that most of the imports are found in the produce section of the markets, we see that Armenia looks much more like an agrarian country. Let’s recall that the authorities made some announcements about opening up a sugar factory which will grow local material. There still is no factory and the sugar we use is imported. Even in the country’s leading agriculture/produce field, it turns out that cigarettes are imported more than exported. In the end, it turns out that there are more products being imported than exported. No matter how much we talk about developing cattle-raising, meat and other meat products are imported 4-5 times more than exported. This means that the economy’s most developed field-agriculture-is not that developed.

“The traveler who visits the Piranhas suddenly finds himself in the land of farmers,” writes Ortega and adds,” you see faces of villagers everywhere.”

The famous philosopher Ortega is not depicting neither Spain nor Armenia. This was just the only phrase that I found suitable to end the summary of the year.