Armenia's GDP is expected to rise by 3% in 2018, the Eurasian Development Bank said in its forecast on Wednesday, February 21.

According to the country’s budget for 2018, the economy will expand by 4.5%.

Inflation, meanwhile, is expected at a level of 3.4% (year-on-year in December), the EDB said in it quarterly Macroeconomic Review.

The authors of the review note that the EDB countries have demonstrated positive growth rates due to improved external developments, the gradual softening of their monetary policies, and fiscal incentives. As at the end of 2017, the region’s GDP grew by 1.8%, compared to a decline of 0.1% in 2016. Mutual trade is recovering, too.

In January-November 2017, trade between the Eurasian Economic Union’s (EAEU) countries totaled US $48.8 billion, or 126.4% of the figure recorded in the same period of the previous year. Monetary policy is also demonstrating certain success. In December, the year-on-year inflation rates reached a record low of 4.6% in Belarus and 2.5% in Russia. In other countries of the region, they did not exceed the set targets.

The member states of the Bank are Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Tajikistan.

According to the United Nations, the economy of Armenia is expected to expand by 3.8% in 2018 and by 3.6% in 2019.