Armenian Economy Rated as World’s Second Worst

Armenia's economy is disappointing as it is, but now Forbes had to rub it in by ranking it as one of the world’s worst economies, second only to Madagascar.   

“Per-capita GDP of $3,000 is less than a third of neighboring Turkey, and inflation is running at 7%,” Forbes Senior Editor  Daniel Fisher wrote in his blog. “On top of that, Russia cut back on supplies of diamonds, hurting Armenia’s once-thriving diamond-processing industry.”

CPR performed by international financial institutes, the West and Russia may have helped put the economy on the mend, but recovery is slow.

Economic data for the first quarter of 2011 shows no sign of an immediate turnaround; Gross Domestic Product growth registered just 1.2 percent, RFE/RL's Armenian service reports.

For a country badly whacked by the global financial crisis, the Forbes ranking, no doubt, adds insult to injury, but, so far, no official reactions from Yerevan.