Business investors from Armenia’s far-flung diaspora, a key engine for the South Caucasus country’s sluggish economy, increasingly are expressing frustration with what they describe as Armenia’s corrupt judicial system and state bureaucracy. The government, for its part, asserts that it promotes favorable conditions for diaspora investors.
Complaining about high prices and limited choices at home, Armenians this summer are opting to holiday abroad. The Armenian government, boasting that tourism is one of the economy’s fastest developing sectors, apparently sees little reason to encourage them to reconsider.
Two tragedies occurred February 7 in the Shengavit, District of the Armenian capital Yerevan: a 67-year-old woman hanged herself; and a 62-year-old woman threw herself from the sixth floor of a building. These cases highlight a disturbing trend in Armenia, where the number of suicides and suicide attempts among the elderly is reaching alarming heights.
When Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak went whooshing through the streets of downtown Yerevan on a Segway last month, he got nary a wide-eyed stare. And with Armenia now boasting an official 25-percent growth rate in its Information Technologies (IT) sector, that’s how it should be, proud bureaucrats might say.
