The ANC representative comments on the economic indexes presented by the Cabinet
Vardan Aramyan, the Deputy Minister of Finance, presented rather optimistic economic indexes of the first 7 months during a press conference recently. Aravot asked Vahagn Khachatryan, an ANC representative and a former mayor of Yerevan, to explain whether we
could really say that the life had improved, since the wage of Vardan Aramyan’s cousin had increased and we had such high indexes. He replied, “You know what, the money in his and his cousin’s pocket, as well as Serzh Sargsyan’s and his cousin’s pocket, will increase, but when the wage of citizens doesn’t increase, when the poverty increases, when he presents the change in the poverty rate methodology, it is not true – in reality, the poverty has increased. That person is satisfied with himself and his Cabinet. Only this state can make such calculations. As for whether those calculations correspond to the reality, the citizens must tell. In our country, there is no economic policy. When he talks about the external debt, in response to a question how they are going to pay that debt, he says they will borrow more money; Greece and Spain are such countries. One should be concerned about this most of all. There is another question too – why doesn’t the Prime Minister present those outstanding indexes of 7 months by himself, why doesn’t he convene a press conference? Because he knows quite well that there are much more dangerous things behind it and we cannot boast and be happy about those indexes today. He talks about increasing the citizens’ revenues; it is not the case, because if we compare wages with revenues in dollars, we will notice that there is no such increase. Eventually, there is another index that is called emigration. If the economic indexes of the country are high, people don’t leave that country. Unfortunately, 49 thousand people have left our country last year. In Armenia, the problem related to the citizens’ emigration is more real and more dangerous. If they don’t admit that there really is a demographical problem in Armenia these days, it means that they don’t solve any problem in Armenia these days and we don’t get rich, if say, the life of 10% percent of people surrounding us improves. In the international reports, Armenia is not among the stably developing countries, we are a country that if a light wind blows in international markets, in Europe, there will be a storm in Armenia.”
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In response to our observation that the government had said in response to the remark of the ANC about the emigration that there had been a large-scale emigration when the very Pan-Armenian National Movement (PANM) had been in power, Mr. Aramyan, in particular, had said during his press conference that the tendency of emigration growth had been there since 1993, Vahagn Khachatryan said, “Perhaps, Aramyan, as well as the others, have some problems with memory because of their age. They weren’t the years when the years of the PANM, they were years of war and by the way, if they examine the statistical data for emigration in 1991-1999 and 1999-2012, they will notice that the situation has become much worse. If Aramyan or the government asks such a question, tell them to talk about the birth and death rate, diseases, they will see that it is much worse. I don’t want to talk about it, because it is actually our misfortune. It would be better, if they told us and presented to us what awaits us tomorrow, how are we going to overcome this crisis? If ore prices in international markets decrease, how is the economy going to develop? Ore and precious metals – gold or stuff like that – account for 80% of our exports. These are just numbers, about which they speak and try to present. I am convinced that in October, when they will present the data for 9 months, there will be lower indexes, given the problems with foodstuffs in international markets today, given also the fact that they presented high indexes
for 9 months last year, as a result of manipulation, now they must add to that, but there is nothing to add. How much of the expected taxes have they collected , they have collected 25 billion out of 101 billion, so they have to collect the rest within the next 5 months, which is not realistic and if you look at the rest, they have collected it pressuring small and medium enterprises. The rules of the game have not changed – Gagik Khachatryan, the chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC), talked about this as early as last December, when he said ‘tell me how to collect.’ They haven’t said so far how they will collect. Now wait for that. It is really interesting and Aramyan is too little a man to be able to express serious opinions and to make the society accept those serious opinions as the truth. I assure you that if the numbers were serious, Serzh Sargsyan would talk about them. Do you remember when he made a long speech about emigration last year, but he was provided with wrong numbers. Now he asks abroad, tells foreigners to invest in Armenia, in order that people don’t emigrate.”
HRIPSIME JEBEJYAN
