ArmInfo.Prices for food and energy are expected to stay at high level. This forecast was made by Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Hovhannes Khachatryan on May 16 at a meeting of the RA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs during the presentation of the annual report on the activities of the Central Bank of Armenia.
Khachatryan recalled that despite the 3.2% figure included in the annual budget, the growth was 5.7%, inflation instead of the fixed 4% (plus/minus 1.5%) increased to 7.4%. For the current financial year, the Central Bank at the beginning of the year forecasted 6.5% inflation and 1.5% GDP growth, respectively.
A significant increase in external demand, due to the so-called international visitors, led not only to economic growth, but also to inflationary pressure. "Inflationary pressure has increased due to growing uncertainty, due to a significant sharp increase in risk and an increase in world prices that occurred due to a sharp disruption of international value chains," Khachatryan said. International flows have had a certain inflationary impact in terms of demand growth; the dram has grown in the last two months.
The latest March forecast retains the forecasts, as there is still uncertainty on both capital inflows and demand. As Khachatryan noted, unfortunately there are fewer doubts about maintaining a high level of food and energy prices. Studies of world markets show that prices for food and energy are expected to stay at high level for a long time to come.
