Yerevan, May 30 /Mediamax/. The macroeconomic growth in the countries of the South Caucasus and Central Asia in the course of the recent four years has been exceeding 10% on average.

Mediamax reports that the Senior Adviser of the Middle East and Central Asia Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) David Owen stated in Yerevan today.

According to him, Armenia is leading as to the economic development among the countries, which do not produce and export oil. “The macroeconomic growth in Armenia in the course of the recent four years made on average 13%”, David Owen stated.

He noted that due to the increase of export, the inflow of external capital and direct investments, the economic growth of Armenia in the first quarter of 2007 exceeded the 10% index, planned by the budget.

The IMF representative stated that the majority of countries limited the nominal strengthening of the exchange rate regarding the U.S. dollar, and among them Armenia again occupies the first position /25%/. According to David Owen, the given fact has positive and considerable influence on the macroeconomic indices of the country.

In the course of the recent two years, practically in all the countries of the region, real strengthening of national currencies took place. “Due to the flexible policy of the Central Bank in Armenia, the given index made 16.9%, which lead Armenia out to the regional leaders as to the given index as well”, Owen stated.

In conclusion, the IMF representative stated that the flexible order of the exchange rate and the strict budget-tax policy of the leadership of the country assisted the decrease of the level of inflation /4%/ and the high economic growth. According to him, the further constructive reforms of the Armenian government will help to strengthen the competition and increase the export, promoting preservation of high speeds of economic growth; however the increase of social expenditures will also require increase of tax proceeds to the budget by means of enlarging the tax basis and improvement of tax administration.