Yerevan/Mediamax/. Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Armenia Astrid Clifford thinks that "Armenia is now better prepared to any deterioration in global economic conditions”.

Assessing on Mediamax request Armenia's ability to withstand negative economic consequences of Europe's sovereign debt crisis, Astrid Clifford said, that Armenian government's various actions aimed at diversification of the economy are already giving positive results.

“We have already witnessed improvements and accordingly a reduction of the dominance of any single sector to the overall economic performance, so we think that the country is better prepared any deterioration in global economic conditions”, Astrid Clifford said.

She said there will be no significant direct impact on the Armenian financial sector from the European debt crisis, but it can affect economy because of reduction in the overall demand for commodities. 

“We think that the Armenian economy may start to be affected if the situation in Europe deteriorates further, leading to a reduction in the overall demand for commodities and accordingly a reduction in prices. This includes commodities which we export - like copper, molybdenum and gold - and international prices for oil, which, if they reduce significantly, might affect the Russian economy and accordingly remittance and trade flows to Armenia”, Astrid Clifford concluded.