RA GOVERNMENT SHOULD START REDUCING GAS SUBSIDIES AS SOONAS POSSIBLE, IMF
OFFICIAL SAYS
Noyan tapan
Jul 3, 2007
YEREVAN, JULY 3, NOYAN TAPAN. Marta Castello-Branco, the head of the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) delegation, which is in Armenia from
July 26, at the July 2 press conference, said that the RA government
should start reducing gas subsidies as soon as possible to soften
the consequences of growth in gas prices for vulnerable strata.
It should be mentioned that in 2006, the RA government, handing over
Hrazdan TPP’s 5th energy unit to Russia, received the possibility to
keep the price for 1 cubic meter of gas imported from Russia at the
level of 55 dollars for final consumers through subsidizing.
In her words, the operation term of the current gas subsidy will
expire in late 2008. From the begninning of 2009 prices for gas could
grow abruptly and make more than 200 USD, and in order to soften
the consequences of the latter, gas subsidies should be gradually
reduced. M. Castello-Branco said that the steady appreciation of the
dram should help smooth this process by making gas import cheaper in
dram terms.