Aharon Adibekian: Consequences of economic crisis will become visible
in Armenia in autumn
YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The consequences of the global financial
and economic crisis will become visible in Armenia in the autumn, while
the spring of 2010 will be the hardest period, the director of
Sociometer center Aharon Adibekian made a forecast at the March 6 press
conference. According to him, Armenia will suffer the main loss because
of a fall in exports and construction work. The purchasing capacity of
the population will decline as a result of decreased remittanches from
abroad. Besides, due to their poor financial state, famers will have
difficulty buying seeds, fertlizers, equipment, which will affect
negatively this year’s harvest. "The 150 thousand-strong army of the
disabled will also have serious problems as the prices of medicines
will rise," the sociologist said.
He announced that the recent surveys conducted by their center show
that the notion of the society about the standard of living of Armenian
citizens differs considerably from the government’s notion. For
example, the government considers a person receiving 19.4 thousand
drams a month as poor, whereas the society considers one with an income
of 25 thousand drams as poor. By official data, those with a monthly
income of 32 thousand drams are well-off persons, whereas people
consider those with an income of 85-200 thousand drams as well-to-do.