The US newly elected President Donald Trump said during his campaign that if elected the US dollar will be depreciated. “Aravot” asked the Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan what will happen to our economy in the case of the depreciation of the dollar, especially since 2 years ago, due to the rise of the dollar in our country, the commercial banks began to issue loans to the business in dollars.
As interpreted by the Finance Minister, for the valuation of the dollar, it is necessary for the US economic growth be much forward than in other developed and developing countries, “This is an adopted rule, or the trust of the investors should come to the US, and the economy should be much higher than in other geographic areas which happened in 2012-2013 when the flows began to move from the East to West. Whether the United States will reach it with its policy or not, life will show.
But if we theoretically assume that the dollar is appreciating, naturally, it will also cause pressure for our economy because it will mean that our currency (AMD) is at stake and can be depreciated, but to see its effects, we should look at what can happen in sequence. It all actually depends on the size. If the dollar is depreciating or is appreciated against major currencies in the global economy, let’s say, 5-4%, and also against the Armenian currency, it is acceptable for us, it is not a problem. Theoretically, up to 20 percent depreciation against the dollar is acceptable for us, we will not have problems.”
We were questioning Vardan Aramyan during the two-day training on public debt held in Tsakhkadzor. To the question of the journalist, you have announced that we are not planning an increase of wages and pension next year but if parliament ratifies the bill of 1000 AMD, moreover, the wages of the employees will be deducted by AMD 1000, so whether this will not cause a social problem, whether it is not a social burden on the citizens, Mr. Aramyan said that the ideology underlying the new system is a little different, it is a nation-army ideology, and the responsibility associated with the army belong to everyone.
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According to the Finance Minister, today, willy-nilly, we are in a situation of a semi-war, consequently, it is the obligation of everyone to support the army, “The support is not only the psychological approach that we always say that army is the number one priority for us but also to have mechanisms. The mechanism underlying is nothing more than a pure insurance. Insurance contains logic and philosophy in itself, and if you do not preserve several logical indicators and standards, the insurance system collapses. The number one important indicator of the insurance system is the predictability of entries. When you are insuring any risk, and the risk is something that God forbid if any soldier dies or becomes disabled during the performance of his duties, it means that his family is deprived of future revenues.
In the opposite case, the same soldier feeds his family and ensures its well-being. Therefore, there must be an insurance system which in the coming years, and we have selected 20 years, will be able to compensate the lost revenues in the future.” Vardan Aramyan said that the state expects more revenues from other sources but there is a psychological approach here that the army is also important for all of us, irrespective of the social status and the location, “If there will be recommendations on the approaches, the government will consider them.”
To our observation that the citizens mention that the problem is not in 1000 AMD but the lack of confidence and people are demanding that the officials and generals who have become rich at the expense of the army pay the money back and then deduct the mandatory 1000 AMD from the public, Mr. Aramyan replied, “That’s why we divide the problem into two parts. One that mandatory measures should be taken to restore the justice. The President and the Prime Minister have addressed this issue saying that if we have the atmosphere of distrust, it is much more difficult to move forward. But to overload these problems on the new system which we think is viable in terms of its ideology is not right. I think that the ideology of the system is positive. It will not work. If we overload any well-designed system with your mentioned problems, we will never move forward.”
Lusine BUDAGHYAN
“Aravot”
16.11.2016
