recovery path. First, it was a devastating earthquakein 1988 that took away over thousands of lives and rendered so many homeless, then it was the prolonged war in Nagorno-Karabakh that also involved Armenia. The war led to blockades of trade routes, which in turn led to shortage of food and other amenities.
Under the Soviet central planning, Armenia had developed an industrial base like supplying machine tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and energy. But all these industries were dependent on other Soviet states and highly suffered the trade-route-blockades and other calamities, which led many factories to shut down. The gross domestic product fell by 60 percent between 1991 and 1993.
But in 1995, inflation, which had increased the price of goods by as much as 20 fold a year, was under control and the GDP was again growing. In 2001 the GDP was an estimated $2.1 billion. In fact, Armenia's skilled workforce is considered an advantageous tool for the progress of the
Armenia economy. While the agricultural sector has long-term needs for more investment and updated technology, the privatization of industry has been at a slower pace, though it is being given renewed emphasis by the current administration.
