New billion-dollar debts of Armenia

Baku/09.05.21/Turan: A threat looms over Armenia in the form of claims is 1.5 billion, Sarkis Grigoryan, a representative of the “GPartners” legal company, wrote about this in his article.

"To date, claims have been brought against Armenia in the amount of over $ 1.5 billion from various foreign investors - the United States, Great Britain, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates and others. These large investors were involved in various sectors of the economy - construction, infrastructure development, mining, garbage collection, etc. The following foreign investors and investors related to them have already submitted claims against Armenia for damages:

Arin Capital & Investment Corp.,

Rasia FZE,

Sanitek S.a.r.l.,

Lydian International Limited,

Corsan-Corviam Construccion S.A. (North-South program).

The first two investment claims are being considered by the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID, Washington), and arbitral tribunals are likely to issue appropriate verdicts by the end of this year. If the government loses, then Armenia will be obliged to immediately enforce the arbitration verdict, which will increase its external debt by another $ 170 million," the expert writes.

The Armenian government does not have sufficient opportunities to create a favorable investment environment or conduct an investment policy that would attract foreign investment, among others, for the development of the country's post-war economy. Moreover, as a result of government actions (or inaction) since 2018, some large foreign investors have abandoned their programs altogether, while others have filed international lawsuits against Armenia. There is no state policy in the field of investments in Armenia - the government has been guided by the policy of "closed doors" since 2018, which has devastating consequences, the expert points out.

At present, the state debt of Armenia, according to data by August 2020, approached $ 8 billion, which is the highest figure in the entire history of the republic, the country's Finance Ministry told Interfax.

"As of July 31, 2020, Armenia's public debt amounted to $ 7.94 billion (58.1% of 2019 GDP). In absolute terms, this is the highest figure in the entire history of the Republic of Armenia. The figure of $ 50 billion may be added to this debt, since earlier President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev announced plans to sue Armenia in an international court in order to recover compensation for damage caused during the occupation of a part of the territory of Azerbaijan. Former General Prosecutor of Armenia Gevorg Kostanyan believes that the Armenians not only lost their territories, but also an obligation of more than $ 50 billion will be imposed on Armenia. It remains for Azerbaijan to submit to international arbitration and obtain the payment of this money, he said. —0—