Artsakh Losing $1.9 Million Daily

Due to the blockade of the only road connecting Artsakh to Armenia and the world, the Lachin corridor, by Azerbaijan, the financial losses amount to at least 753 million drams or $1.9 million per day. This is stated in the "Economic Loss Assessment Report due to the Blockade of Artsakh," prepared by a professional team of economists led by international public finance management consultant Vardan Aramyan, on behalf of the Artsakh Republic government and former Prime Minister Ruben Vardanyan, co-founder of the "We Are Our Mountains" regional development agency.

Ruben Vardanyan and former Artsakh Prime Minister Grigori Martirosyan, head of Artsakh projects at the "We Are Our Mountains" regional development agency, also joined the presentation of the report via video conference from Yerevan. Martirosyan was also part of the professional team.

“It has already been 108 days since Artsakh has been under blockade. This has really affected all sectors of the Economy of Artsakh. It will be very difficult to restore Artsakh’s economy in the future,” said Grigori Martirosyan, adding that the report will be presented to international organizations.

The team of economists conducted assessments using four approaches with different tools. According to the report, the total financial losses of Artsakh due to the blockade amount to a minimum of 651 million drams or $1.6 million per day.

“$1.6 million is the estimation of socio-economic losses for one day without considering the loss of welfare, which includes tax losses of around 81 million drams and primary social spending of 36.3 million drams. The daily loss amounts to $1.65 million if the welfare loss is not accounted for; if we include the welfare loss, it results in $1.9 million every day without considering the loss of potential and the financial needs for buffer expenditures,” noted Aramyan.

The economic damage to Artsakh over a 100-day calculation due to the blockade is around $165 million, when socio-economic losses are assessed, and approximately $190 million when welfare loss is also considered.