The global economic crisis seriously threatens the economic growth and poverty reduction that Armenia achieved in recent years. The most recent data indicate that the economy is now shrinking, with prospects worsening in 2009 and 2010 when the full impact of the crisis is expected to unfold....

Armenia has a very small economy that has carried out strong reforms in many areas over the past decade and a half. It grew at a very fast pace prior to the global crisis (about 12 percent on average between 2000 and 2007), in part due to a strong inflow of remittances and Foreign Direct...