YEREVAN, December 25. /ARKA/. The Central Bank of Armenia says in its report Economic Activity Index and Business Environment Index that 22.1% of 1,151 surveyed organizations in Armenia are ready to make investments in business in the fourth quarter of this year. This is less than the previous quarter’s result by 4.4 percentage points.

The bulk of the fourth quarter’s actual investments have been made in industry (30%) and trade (32%), and actual investments in construction exceeded expectations – 24.3% instead of projected 19.2%.

The poll conducted by the central bank showed that more than 25% of industry and trade organizations and 25% of construction companies are going to make investments in the first quarter of the next year.

Remarkable is that 50% of respondents is going to invest money from their net profits, and 41% rely on borrowings from banks and credit organizations.

The results of the survey show that all the segments of Armenia’s economy but trade sector, where the bulk of investments is made in stocked goods, intend to invest money in acquisition of machinery and other equipment.

The choice of sources from which investments can be attracted depends on the size of the organization.

Unlike some past quarters, when international loans were available to large companies only, the fourth quarter can be singled out for the fact that about 14.6% of mid-scale organizations got loans.
Small organizations made investments from their accumulated profits (40.0%) and the loans received from Armenian commercial banks and credit organizations (36.3%). -0---