YEREVAN, July 13, /ARKA/.  A deputy Armenian finance minister predicted today a 4.8% full-year economic growth for the country after the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) rose by 8.8% in the first five months of the year compared to the same period last year.

‘We expect our economy  to grow 4.8% by the end of the year, although when we were planning our budget for 2010 we projected a 1.8% growth,’ Vartan Aramian  said at the first session of the Armenian-Polish intergovernmental  commission in Yerevan today.

He spoke about last year’s problems  when the country’s economy was hit severely by the crisis. He said after the GDP slashed by 18.5% in the first half of 2009 the government moved to take swift action to preclude further fall and as a result the full-year contraction dropped to 14.4%. The largest contraction was sustained by the construction sector-over 40 percent that accounted for 11% in the overall decline.

According to him, the government’s anti-crisis  measures have brought about positive  trends with the economy growing by 8.8% in Jan.-May. He said the government is backing most important sectors, like  the mining industry that was given $44 million of loans. -0-