YEREVAN, January 11. /ARKA/. Former Armenian Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan says there are three factors behind Armenia's strong growth in 2022.

"The growth potential of our economy is estimated at 4-5%; this is indisputable. If we had 14.4% GDP growth (in 2022), we should trace the factors behind it," Aramyan said in an interview with the Public Television of Armenia.

He listed three factors:

1) individual remittances from Russia, which have tripled as a result of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict

2) The number of visitors to the country

3) exports, which recorded an unprecedented 70% growth.

"But we have to consider whether we really have this kind of economic potential and what we are exporting. In particular, exports of cars and machinery have increased unprecedentedly – but do we produce these goods and in that quantity?" asks the former minister.

In that context, Aramyan pointed out that in reality, the increase in car exports from Armenia is connected with western sanctions slapped on Russia, forcing it to allow so-called parallel imports from the Eurasian Economic Union's member countries.

Earlier Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said that according to forecasts, Armenia's economic expansion in 2022 would amount to 13-14%.

According to the Ministry of Economy, about 1.67 million tourists visited Armenia in 2022, down from 1.89 million in pre-pandemic 2019.

According to some estimates, about 100,000 Russian nationals have decided to stay in Armenia because of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict --0-