OREANDA-NEWS  Withdrawal from the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will not lead to serious consequences for Armenia. This was stated by the Minister of Economy of the post-Soviet republic Gevorg Papoyan, quoted by Interfax.

In this scenario, Armenia's GDP growth rate will slow down by 0.65 percentage points, he expects. This will happen if Armenia withdraws from the EAEU, and there will be no other negative factors, Papoyan stressed.

A possible increase in the price of natural gas supplied to Armenia from Russia could lead to much more serious consequences, he explained. Papoyan warned that if the terms of the current long-term agreement are renegotiated, the slowdown in the republic's economic growth may amount to at least 5 percentage points (pp).

The increase in the price of imported gas was included by the members of the Eurasian Intergovernmental Council in the list of potential risks that Armenia may face in the event of the republic's withdrawal from the EAEU. Analysts also included a rapid drop in trade turnover with the countries of the association and the loss of a significant part of GDP in the list of possible threats.

Despite this, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan once again assured the EAEU of the immutability of its course towards rapprochement with Europe. The country's authorities, he stressed, will continue to work on the diversification of foreign trade relations in order to reduce dependence on the Russian market. The leadership of the European Union (EU) promised to help him with this.