A public dispute has emerged between Armenia's Ministry of Economy and the Statistical Committee over discrepancies in the assessment of the country's economic growth.
Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan has openly criticized ArmStat's methodology, questioning the reliability of its official statistics.
In an interview with Civilnet, Papoyan pointed to significant shortcomings in ArmStat’s data collection methods, particularly in the agricultural sector. According to ArmStat, October saw an 8% decline in the sector, including a 16% drop in crop production.
Papoyan dismissed these figures as inaccurate, criticizing the "outdated methods" used by ArmStat. He argued that for the past 20 years, the committee has relied on antiquated practices such as telephone surveys of regional centers, which in turn gather data through a chain of local administrations.
Arsen Avakyan, head of agricultural statistics at ArmStat, responded to the criticism, clarifying to ARKA news agency that Papoyan referred to preliminary data comparing October 2024 to October 2023, showing an 8% decline.
He noted that this data is not yet published and will be included in the fourth-quarter report for 2024.
Defending the data collection methodology, Avakyan told Armenpress that statistical information is gathered monthly from all municipalities and commercial organizations involved in agriculture through standardized reporting forms.
Despite the methodological debate, official ArmStat data for the first nine months of 2024 shows a 2% increase in gross output in agriculture, forestry, and fisheries, with a 1.8% growth in the agricultural sector alone.
