YEREVAN, JUNE 23, NOYAN TAPAN. In the third quarter of 2006, the composite economic indices of Armenia were below 100 points. The business environment index made 97.9, the economic activity index - 99.4, and the consumer confidence index - 95.1. The indices are calculated as the so-called ratio of index response balances - the percentage ratio of the given quarter's balance to the balance of the previous quarter. According to a press release of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), in the first quarter of 2006, the balances of business environment indices responses made 58.3, while in the second quarter - 57.1 The economic activity indices responses balances made 70.5 and 70.1 respectively, while those of consumer confidence - 51.3 and 48.8. Since early 2005. the CBA started conducting quarterly surveys of non-financial, financial organizations and households. The purpose of these surveys is to evaluate changes in the current economic situation compared with the previous period, assess economic expectation of economic entities surveyed, and based on the survey results, to calculate and publish composite economic indices. More than 600 organizations in industry, constrcution and service sector have been surveyed.

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