The Executive Director of the Union of Advanced Technology Enterprises of Armenia, Sarkis Karapetyan, spoke about the significant impact of the IT sector on the country’s economy and highlighted key issues facing the industry.
According to Karapetyan, information technology already accounts for about 14% of Armenia’s GDP. The expert emphasized that further growth in this sector could greatly enhance the overall efficiency of the economy, writes news.am.
"In recent years, the tourism industry and other sectors have begun to develop largely thanks to this," he noted.
Karapetyan provided statistics on the multiplier effect of the IT sector: "One new high-tech job creates 3-6 new jobs in other industries." This demonstrates the enormous potential of the IT industry as a driver of economic growth, he explained.
However, despite positive trends, the industry faces serious challenges. According to the expert’s estimates, between 2017 and 2020, about 14,000 jobs were created in the IT sector, but 5,400 of them remained vacant.
"This means that our economy lost 5,400 high-paying workers. In turn, this also means that an additional 15,000 potential new jobs in other sectors were not created," Karapetyan emphasized.
The expert pointed out that the problem lies in the shortage of qualified specialists. In his opinion, Armenia has good IT professionals, but their numbers are insufficient to meet the growing demand.
Karapetyan stressed that this problem is not unique to Armenia but is also characteristic of the global IT market, where the demand for skilled workers consistently exceeds supply.
Recently, Armenia’s former Minister of Economy, Vahan Kerobyan, reported a significant decline in the country’s IT sector. According to his statement on Facebook, the industry contracted by about 13% in the first half of the current year.
Earlier, BMG reported that according to a study by the consulting company Modex, the turnover of Armenia’s IT sector in 2023 amounted to 837 billion drams ($2.12 billion), which is 252 billion drams (over $630 million) or 43% more than in 2022. At the same time, about 87% or 755 billion drams ($1.91 billion) of the IT sector's turnover was generated in foreign markets (i.e., exported), and 13% or 114 billion drams was realized in the domestic market.
