WASHINGTON: In early January, Armenian media outlets reported about an “incredible growth” of the country’s export. However, now it turns out that the figure was artificially increased through re-export, which is widely practiced by Armenia. Then, it was reported that Armenian exports only to Russia in January-November 2016 increased by 54 percent in comparison with the same period of 2015, thus making up $337,3 million. As for the total exports from Armenia in 2016, it has allegedly grown by 20 percent up to $1.8 billion.
Allegedly, Armenia increased exports of tomatoes to Russia by more than 42 times compared to the same period of 2015. Head of the “Alternative” research center,Professor Tatul Manaseryan shed light on the data. “Exports did not increase, it is a lie – there was not a real growth. The growth was achieved only due to the criminal re-export,” he said, noting that the re-export was mainly applied to the goods imported from Turkey, including tomatoes, jewelry and textiles.
In particular, he highlighted the Armenian FEZ Meridian, which is engaged in re-export. “Jewelry are imported from Turkey to Armenia and then get transported to Russia, Manaseryan said. “And this is despite the fact that Russia imposed sanctions on Turkey. Here comes a big political problem.” Thus, the growth of exports from Armenia were resulted from the re-export, which is detrimental for the local business, healthy competition, and for the Armenian economy as a whole.
