YEREVAN, March 26, /ARKA/. HSBC Bank Armenia CEO, Astrid Clifford, said today Armenian economy may grow this year by 2%.

“I can not make concrete forecasts, because everything may change,’ she told a news conference today, adding that the situation in virtually all sectors of economy, except for construction is improving, Armenia's Gross Domestic Product increased by 3.1 percent in the first two months of this year, the latest government statistics said.

The year-on-year figure was up from a GDP growth rate of 2.4 percent registered by the National Statistical Service (NSS) in January. The growth came after last year's 14.4 percent contraction of the Armenian economy. The Armenian government and Western lending institutions forecast late last year that the economy will expand by only 1.2 percent in 2010. ($1 – 393.54 Drams). -0-