Author: Kalashian Nyrie

While the Minister of Economy, Gevorg Papoyan, presents indicators, stating how many apricots, flowers, tomatoes and peppers were exported to the European market, florists claim that they do not export flowers to the European market, the only market is Georgia, where they exported a very small amount of flowers, that is, only roses.

After May 22, when Russia restricted the import of flowers from Armenia, Armenian florists faced the fact that they cannot sell the flower in the domestic market, and in the conditions of the impossibility of export, they are forced to throw away the flower.

Andranik Barseghyan, a resident of Mkhchyan village, engaged in thermal management of roses he says that during this period only roses were exported to Georgia, and that too in small quantities.

“In the conditions of export restrictions to the Russian market, we have suffered great losses. They are talking only about the Georgian market, at the moment there are no talks about other European markets.

Mkhchyan is a big village, most of them cultivate greenhouses and flowers, all of them have export problems. Now we cannot sell our flowers in the domestic market, firstly, it is very cheap, and secondly, the whole market is full of flowers.”– 168.am–Andranik Barseghyan said in a conversation with

He claims that the issue will not be solved only through the Georgian market, the state must take steps to help the peasants, and many have suffered during this period.

“There is no other option, they should help us until the European market, as they say, is open to us. At the moment, the export figures are very low, and they are exported from large greenhouses that grow flowers on 10-20 hectares. For example, mine is 2000 square meters, it is a home business, I don’t know how they will export it. Small greenhouses will suffer, it is easy to conclude a contract with large ones, to check. It turns out that if they sign a contract with 10 people like me, they will sign a contract with 1 big one,” emphasized our interlocutor.

Unlike the resident of Mkhchyan, Florist Artak Tovmasyan from Zvartnots since May 22, not a single flower has been exported to the European market, let alone to the Georgian market. It is already the second month, he takes the flowers out of the greenhouse and piles them in the area adjacent to the greenhouse, and after they dry, he burns them.

“It is a lie that they export flowers to the European market. If Gevorg Papoyan says that he exports flowers to the European market, let him specifically say that the export was from greenhouses. Let them say, was it from the greenhouses of Abovyan, Zvartnots, Shirak or Ararat?

Now if I say that I exported 100 furs of flowers, some people will believe, some will not. Therefore, let them show that they took the flower, for example, Artatak, Sargis took it, and show the country where this flower was brought. Whom I am talking to, they did not take flowers from anyone, it is only known that some Georgians took them, and we don’t know if they took them for the market or something else.

We do not sell in the domestic market, we sell one flower for 10 drams every day, 10 thousand drams to buy that day’s bread.” 168.amArtak Tovmasyan said in a conversation with

Our interlocutor conveyed to Gevorg Papoyan that various greenhouse owners want to meet him and ask questions.

“I have practical questions to ask the Minister of Economy, let him tell, for example, how a farmer should sell his goods. We understand, they sell more or less in the domestic market, but how can we get them to the European market? I have so many questions that Papoyan is unlikely to want to meet with us.

What they are talking about on TV, they are talking about their greenhouse owners, this refers to those who have greenhouses of 5 hectares or more.

I pledged 6 million drams in gold, I haven’t made payments for 2 months, I called and said that I am a greenhouse owner, I can’t pay the monthly interest, if you want, sell the gold. We have been taking medicine and seeds from acquaintances for a month.

As for the flowers sold in supermarkets during the last few days, Artak Tovmasyan said, again the flowers from the greenhouses of the big ones were taken to the supermarkets.

“They are the flowers of people close to them, or not from our greenhouses? These flowers, which are sold for 1,500 drams, they are sold for 750 drams each in Russia. It is a very bad situation,” emphasized Artak Tovmasyan.

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Today, Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan at the National Assembly ավետել է՝ In 2025, the poverty rate, unemployment decreased, and the average salary increased. He also noted that compared to 2021, consumer prices increased at a much more modest rate of 14.8%, which means that average wages in real terms increased by around 30%.

Economist Hrayr Kamendatyan does not believe these official figures.

“All of them are fake indicators, they are just fake” 168.am“Go to any commercial area, enter, make purchases, you will be convinced that these people are just cheating.” I’m just giving you an example: last year, beef cost about 4,000-4,500 drams, now it costs 7,000 drams.

Regarding salaries: all numbers are numbers formed by drawing strokes. If there is an independent audit, if Scandinavian specialists come and conduct studies for just a couple of weeks, this nakedness, the luxury of lies will be revealed at once.”

By the way, the economist paid attention to the probability of GDP decline and did not consider the estimates of inflation trends to be objective at this time.

“The decline, which everyone is afraid of, is due to the elimination of the export of agricultural products of approximately 2-2.5 billion dollars, which was going to the Russian Federation and Belarus. And it’s fairy tales that we have already taken to Singapore, Bulgaria.

There will be 2.5 billion worth of undelivered, unexported products, the issue of a part of which, probably through canning, can be somehow closed by the factories, but still, that canned product is not expected in the European Union, nor will it be certified. These are just cheating.

And those 2.5 billion, with producers and related persons, generated a large volume of taxes. the state budget will not receive those taxes. In addition, insurance companies, banks that have given loans to large greenhouse farms, they will be in a risk zone.

Not to discuss all this and to discuss some inflation issues in the conditions of belt tightening is simply impudence,” he added.

Considering whether the tightening tax policy will not alleviate this situation? for example, recently there was a discussion about raising the excise tax rates in the government, Hrayr Kamendatyan responded that it will not only alleviate, but also deepen the problems.

“In these conditions, producers should be helped more, subsidies should be given, and credit interest rates should be given to them, but instead, these people are raising taxes.”

Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan announced the following figures at the NA session when he presented the report on the implementation of the 2025 budget: In 2025, unemployment decreased by 0.6 percentage points to 12.8%, compared to 2021, the average monthly nominal wage increased by 48.6%, wage workers by 22.4%, and the unemployment rate decreased by 2.7%.

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