“THE WAGE OF SERZH SARGSYAN’S COUSIN WILL ALSO INCREASE”
August 28, 2012 13:25
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.”
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