Wednesday, September 9, 2020
Armenian Central Bank Touts Deferred Loan Repayments
Armenia -- Martin Galstian speaks in the parliament, Yerevan, April 16, 2020.
During the coronavirus crisis Armenian commercial banks have suspended the
repayment of hundreds of thousands of loans worth a combined 1.3 trillion drams
($2.7 billion), according to the country’s Central Bank.
The Central Bank governor, Martin Galstian, told reporters on Tuesday that the
deferments benefited about 550,000 individual borrowers and 17,000 firms. As a
result, the commercial banks temporarily lost an estimated 100 billion drams in
revenue, he said, according to the Armenpress news agency.
The banks began deferring loan repayments in March as the Armenian government
imposed strict restrictions on people’s movements and ordered the closure of
most firms to tackle the spread of the coronavirus. The lockdown plunged the
Armenian economy into recession, leaving many people without jobs and income.
The government lifted the ban on virtually all types of business activity by the
beginning of May. Most banks resumed loan repayments at around the same time.
The government and the Central Bank have since faced opposition calls for
imposing a prolonged freeze on all loan repayments. Prime Minister Nikol
Pashinian and other government officials have opposed this, saying that the
banks should deal with defaulting clients on a case-by-case basis.
Galstian also argued against such a freeze still advocated by some opposition
figures, saying that additional financial losses could deal a serious blow to
the Armenian banking sector.
“Can banks constantly and continuously make expenditures without expecting any
revenue in return? In our view, that would be a bit reckless,” he said.
Galstian also pointed out that since March the banks have extended a total of 80
billion drams ($165 million) in loans subsidized by the government as part of
its efforts to mitigate grave socioeconomic consequences of the coronavirus
pandemic.
The government’s stimulus package, worth about 150 billion drams, has also
included cash handouts to various categories of the vulnerable population as
well as grants to some struggling businesses and farmers.
Tsarukian’s Party Sees More ‘Fabricated’ Criminal Cases
• Nane Sahakian
Armenia -- Deputies from the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party attend a
parliament session, Yerevan, September 4, 2020.
The opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (BHK) claimed on Wednesday that the
Armenian authorities want to prosecute more of its senior members after bringing
criminal charges against BHK leader Gagik Tsarukian.
Citing information from unnamed government insiders, Naira Zohrabian, a senior
BHK parliamentarian, said the authorities are busy “fabricating” criminal cases
against her and her colleagues and may try to lift their parliamentary immunity
from prosecution soon.
“He who ordered all this knows me very well and is well aware that it’s
impossible to intimidate me in any way,” Zohrabian wrote on Facebook, apparently
referring to Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian.
BHK spokeswoman Iveta Tonoyan also cited such “insider information” when she
spoke to RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “A constant wiretapping of our phones and
collection of various compromising material against us have become the norm,
which makes me feel really sorry because I thought that such practices will not
be possible in the new Armenia,” she claimed.
Tonoyan said that many members of Armenia’s leading parliamentary opposition
party have already been indicted in various criminal cases opened after
Tsarukian was charged with vote buying in June. She stressed that this will not
stop the BHK from continuing to campaign for the government’s resignation.
Tsarukian strongly denies the accusations, saying that they were leveled in
retaliation for his strong criticism of Pashinian’s government voiced earlier in
June. The BHK leader, who is also one of Armenia’s wealthiest businessmen, stood
by that criticism in a speech delivered late last month.
The National Security Service (NSS), which is conducting the criminal
investigation into Tsarukian, declined to clarify on Wednesday whether it has
also indicted other senior BHK figures.
Maria Karapetian, a parliament deputy from Pashinian’s My Step bloc, flatly
denied any political persecution of the BHK leadership. “I can rule out any
political motives for the administration of criminal justice in Armenia,” she
said.
Karapetian also dismissed Zohrabian’s claims that the pro-government majority in
the Armenian parliament wants to sack her as chairwoman of a parliament
committee on human rights issues.
Armenian Teachers Tested For COVID-19 Ahead Of School Reopening
• Artak Khulian
Armenia -- Schoolteachers wait outside a policlinic in Yerevan to get tested for
COVID-19, September 9, 2020
Teachers in Armenia queued up at policlinics on Wednesday to undergo mandatory
coronavirus tests ahead of the reopening of the country’s schools scheduled for
September 15.
The Armenian government shut down all schools and universities in March because
of the coronavirus pandemic. Virtually all of them switched to online classes
that continued until the end of the last academic year in June.
The government decided last month to reopen all educational institutions amid a
falling number of coronavirus cases recorded in the country. Under the safety
protocols issued by it, there can be no more than 20 students in a classroom at
a time and all of them will have to wear face masks during classes.
For their part, the school administrations will have to provide the students
with hand sanitizers and regularly disinfect classrooms. They must also ensure
all teachers get tested for COVID-19 by September 15.
There were chaotic scenes on Wednesday at Yerevan’s Policlinic No. 8 where
teachers from two schools were scheduled to have coronavirus tests. Not all of
them observed physical distancing as they waited in a long line formed in a
crowded policlinic courtyard. Many decried the lack of space there, saying that
they risk getting infected with COVID-19.
“We are jeopardizing not only ourselves but also our students,” one angry
teacher told RFE/RL’s Armenian service. “If you consider this barn a medical
institution then I don’t know what to say.”
“I’m not concerned, I’m angry because all this testing could have been organized
inside schools in proper a manner without this fuss,” said another.
Other teachers were too scared to enter the building and waited their turn
outside it. “I have a small child and an elderly person at home and am now
afraid of entering the building in these conditions,” explained one of them.
“They are not preventing but actually contributing to the spread of the disease.”
“Maybe we summoned too many teachers at a time and are having such a problem
because of that,” acknowledged the policlinic director, Armine Harutiunian.
The Ministry of Health reported in the morning that a record-high 3,518
coronavirus tests have been carried out across Armenia in the past day. The
daily number of such tests has averaged roughly 2,000 during the pandemic.
A ministry spokeswoman confirmed that the sharp increase is the result of the
mass testing among schoolteachers.
Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL
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