The Illusion of Eurasian Economic Union’s Success

Recent times have seen increasingly more cases of high ranking officials of the Republic of Armenia and Eurasian Economic Union presenting inaccurate statistical data in order to persuade the society that the Eurasian Economic Union has started to provide real economic benefits to the member countries.

The last time such a case was registered during the session of the Supreme Eurasian Economic Council held in Bishkek recently, within the framework of which the Armenian president mentioned in his speech that exports from Armenia to EAEU countries have increased by about 65 percent. However, the statistical data published by the RA National Statistical Service indicate that this figure is inflated.

In 2016, exports from Armenia to EAEU countries made up 392 million USD compared to 257 million USD in 2015. Thus, RA exports to EAEU countries in 2016 increased by about 53% rather than 65%. If we compare this indicator with the 324.6 million USD registered in 2014, we will see that exports to EAEU countries have increased only by 20% from the day of establishment of the EAEU. Moreover, even such a modest increase in exports to the EAEU countries has been ensured only due to increase in exports from Armenia to Russia, the artificial nature of which was addressed by the Union of Informed Citizens NGO months ago.

Thus, the continuous distortion of the main indicators characterizing Armenia-EAEU economic relations seems to have become a tradition in our reality. The reason probably consists in that during more than two years of membership in the EAEU, Armenia has not been able to ensure positive economic impact due to the opportunities provided by the so much cherished market of 180 million people.