YEREVAN, April 15, /ARKA/. The Armenian economy is set to grow by 4.6 per cent this year, Guillermo Tolosa, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative, said at a news conference today.

He said although the forecast is lower if compared to the pre-crisis years, it nevertheless is evidence that recovery trends are maintained and will exceed the 2010 growth figures.

Mr. Guillermo Tolosa also said the GDP expansion may be even higher this year thanks to a growth in agricultural output that was not threatened by favorable climatic conditions. He said the government should pay bigger attention to tax collection processes to increase its budget revenues.

He said the government should also work to mitigate the consequences of the crisis for the most vulnerable segments of the population via improved access to social, education and heath services, in addition to improvement of business environment, saying in this regard Armenia lags behind its neighbors in the region.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, released Monday in Washington, the IMF said it expects growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) of Armenia to drop to 4.3% in 2012. The Armenian government GDP projection for 2011 is 4.6%. Armenian prime minister said earlier he expects it to grow to 5.2%, up from 2.6% growth in 2010. The IMF report also predicts a 9.3% inflation growth for 2011 in Armenia saying it would ease to 5.5% in 2012. The government inflation projection for 2011 is 4% (±1.5%). -0-