Category: 2018

168: Serena Williams plans to visit Armenia

Emil Lazarian
| 10:17 | June 1 2018
Category
World

American tennis player Serena Williams has talked about intentions to visit Armenia, the homeland of her husband Alexis Ohanian.

“My husband is Armenian, I am learning a lot about Armenians, I am an honorary Armenian, I love how proud they are, I am planning to go over there, do not know if this year or next year, it is going to be fun!” Serena said according to Italian Ubitennis.

Williams is currently competing at 2018 Roland-Garros.

Williams and Ohanian – cofounder of Reddit, welcomed their first child in 2017.

168: Deputy PM congratulates PM Pashinyan on birthday and all kids on International Children’s Day

Emil Lazarian
| 11:45 | June 1 2018
Category
Society

During today’s Cabinet meeting Deputy Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Avinyan congratulated all kids on the International Children’s Day, as well as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on birthday.

“I want to congratulate all kids and state that all children in Armenia are going to live in protected, happy and free Armenia. And of course, on behalf of the government I also want to congratulate you [Prime Minister] on your birthday. I wish you to have that energy for quite a long time”, the deputy PM said.

168: Cabinet approves government’s program, submits to Parliament

Ophelia Vardapetian
| 11:49 | June 1 2018
Categories
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Politics

During today’s session the Cabinet approved the government’s program.

The key goal of the government’s activity is to enshrine the values of the peaceful, velvet, democratic revolution that took place in Armenia in April-May 2018 as a base for public and national relations and to implement the ideas of the revolution as a constant political reality.

The basic directions of the government’s activity are the followings: the formation of power solely through the people’s free _expression_ of will, the national unity and civil solidarity based on everyone’s being equal before the rule of law and law, ensuring Armenia’s domestic and external security, constant increase of the security level of Armenia and Artsakh, public rejection of corruption and corruption-free society, the practical division of politics and business and etc.

The government’s program also touches upon the preparations for the snap parliamentary elections. According to that, the 6th convocation Parliament doesn’t reflect the real political moods, preferences of the people and the ratio of real powers. This reality creates a strict necessity to hold snap parliamentary elections in Armenia. The government attaches importance to holding such snap parliamentary elections which will be really free, fair, transparent and democratic. In order to hold such elections and record indisputable results by the public it is necessary to make significant changes in the Electoral Code and the electoral system. According to the government’s program, it is necessary to refuse from the ranked voting system and transition completely to the proportional system, form election lists that will reflect the new real picture. The snap parliamentary elections are needed to be held within a maximum of one year.

The government proposes the Speaker of the Parliament to hold an extraordinary session on June 7, at 11:00. During today’s Cabinet meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan said the issue on approving the government’s program will be in the session agenda.


Converse Bank has finalized the results of MEET THE CHAMPIONS campaign

Edgar Tavakalian
| 12:01 | June 1 2018
Category
BUSINESS & ECONOMY

Converse Bank has finalized the results of MEET THE CHAMPIONS campaign. The Campaign had been launched in March for MasterCard and Maestro cardholders of Converse Bank to encourage customers and to expand noncash transactions.

“In the course of the Campaign, starting from March 26 through May 10, both the quantity and the amount of noncash transactions with MasterCard and Maestro cards of Converse Bank grew substantially versus the same period in the past year. In particular, the turnover of noncash transactions with the Bank’s cards grew by 23%, and the number of noncash transactions grew by 77%,” the Bank representative said.

Simultaneously, when making noncash shopping in the partnering network of the Bank, the Campaign participants enjoyed cashback and accumulation of Converse points, and the top 10 participants won various prizes in a lottery, of which 6 cash prizes at AMD 100,000 each, 3 cash prizes at AMD 250,000 each, and 1 ticket for 2 persons for UEFA Champions League Final (including air ticket and accommodation).

It is important to note that the cardholders having made at least 25 noncash transactions to a total amount of AMD 400,000 (equivalent foreign currency) had been qualified to take part in the lottery.


Mkhitaryan introduces interactive miniature version of himself (video)

Nahapetian Samvel
| 12:43 | June 1 2018
Category
Sport

Captain of the Armenian national football team and midfielder of London’s Arsenal Henrikh Mkhitaryan has released an interactive miniature version of himself, otherwise known as the MickiToy.

The MickiToy stands roughly 30cm tall and features Mkhitaryan dressed in the Armenian national football kit.

The toy can speak two languages – Mkhitaryan’s mother tongue Armenian and also English.

The toy has a price tag of a little bit over 24 dollars and is already available in stores.


National security chief vows more revelations in anti-corruption sweep

Nahapetian Zhanna
| 13:57 | June 1 2018
Category
Politics

Head of the National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia Arthur Vanetsyan vows to make new corruption-related revelations.

Reporters spoke to Vanetsyan during today’s Cabinet meeting about the probe into the Yerevan City supermarket chain. Yerevan City is owned by the family of MP Samvel Alexanyan.

Reporters argued that the revelations in Yerevan City supermarket aren’t that much of revelations because the scheme had happened with an agreement with the State Revenue Service (SRC). Vanetsyan responded: “People who’ve acted illegally for many years can say many things. They even manipulated the 350 figure, however the figure exceeded 460. While the number of organizations, which are yet to be questioned, will reach 1000 or more,” he said.

Asked if there is a need to question former SRC chief Vardan Harutyunyan, the NSS director said the investigation will show.

Earlier the NSS had questioned two former vice presidents of the SRC in connection with an alleged corruption scheme involving a customs clearance brokerage firm – Norfolk Consulting. The NSS says the company’s illegal revenues might total nearly 7 million dollars for just 9 months of activities.

A few days ago the NSS carried out inspections in the Yerevan City supermarket chain. The NSS said it has discovered an illicit scheme which the chain used for a lengthy period of time. The mechanism used fraudulent tax records using fake companies under the names of hundreds of unaware citizens.

The NSS says that Alex Holding, the parent company of Yerevan City, had conspired with the former leadership of the State Revenue Committee to use a scheme to pay only 2% circulation tax instead of 20% VAT and income tax.

According to the NSS, Alex Holding had registered more than 461 private entrepreneurship accounts under the names of its personnel and their acquaintances, who were used to be engaged in the scheme.

According to preliminary estimates, the total sales of the 461 accounts totaled more than 40 billion drams.

State Revenue Committee to conduct research in case of increase of prices by supermarkets

Vanyan Gary
| 15:01 | June 1 2018
Categories
BUSINESS & ECONOMY
Society

The State Revenue Committee (SRC) has no function over the pricing, SRC Chairman Davit Ananyan told reporters after today’s Cabinet session.

Asked whether the Yerevan City and the remaining supermarkets may start the practice of paying the Value Added Tax, and whether in that case the prices will drastically increase, the SRC Chairman stated: “I have also heard similar assessments. Vahram Baghdasaryan [head of the RPA faction] has also stated that previously some agreements were reached to avoid that so that there wouldn’t be 50-60% increase in prices. But the problem is very simple: if we state that the economic entities should operate within the law, it means that the supermarket selling agricultural and meat products should pay its tax with its full volume”.

He said if there is a 50-60% increase in prices in case of coming to the legal field, it would mean that the remaining small shops will be more competitive within the turnover tax.

“Supermarkets once thought that they should compete also with the small and medium businesses in their neighborhood, by this ignoring the scale effect. It is not so. We, as a State Revenue Committee, think that if prices increase, we will just conduct research to be convinced on to what extent the price increase is justified or credible. If it turns out that the transition to such tax field can cause such pricing, we didn’t see any problem. The SRC should have nothing to do with any process linked with pricing. If we work exclusively within the law and see that it causes problems and there is a need to revise the law, we can cooperate with the finance ministry by such proposals in order to change the legislation. As long as the law is in action, be it good or bad, all have to operate within that law”, Davit Ananyan said.


Burger #1: Well-done, with presidency flavor: Sarkissian barbecues meat at children’s party (photos)

Chalian Meline
| 15:42 | June 1 2018
Category
Society

As today is celebrated as International Children’s Day, Armenia’s President Armen Sarkissian visited the Orran Benevolent NGO center in Yerevan, where he and First Lady Nune Sarkissian grilled burgers for children.

“Children’s Day isn’t only June 1st, but for 365 days on”, President Sarkissian said.

The President personally assumed the chef’s responsibilities and grilled burgers and prepared hamburgers for children with First Lady Nune Sarkissian.

Sarkissian joked saying that his culinary masterpiece in the kitchen is a simple omelet, a fact which his wife can vouch for. “And today I must do the first step and cook burgers”, he said.

After coming together at the festive table, children began to munch on the burgers. 9 year old Lili Mkrtchyan said the burgers were delicious and she wants the President to visit them again.

Orran was founded by Armine and Raffi Hovhannisyans in 2000. Its mission is to help at-risk children.

Currently the Yerevan center of Orran houses 115 children, while the center in Vanadzor houses 125 children.

Armenian public debt "frozen" at around $ 6.9 billion by May 2018

Nahapetian Zhanna
Arminfo, Armenia
June 1 2018
Armenian public debt “frozen” at around $ 6.9 billion by May 2018

Yerevan June 01

Karina Melikyan. The state debt of Armenia, demonstrating a monthly growth of 1.5% in the first quarter of 2018, declined only slightly (by 0.3%) in April, which “delayed” it at $ 6.9 bln. In the annual cut (in April 2018 by April 2017), the state debt of Armenia increased by 14.2%. According to preliminary data of the RA Ministry of Finance, provided by the ArmInfo National Statistical Service, foreign debt increased by 12.2% per annum – up to $ 5.5 billion (2.7 trillion drams), with an annual growth of domestic debt by 8.3% to $ 1.3 billion (644.5 billion AMD).

On a monthly basis, external debt, after rising 1.8% in the first quarter of 2018, declined in April, and domestic debt continued to grow, a total of 4.2% in January-April.

By way of comparison, in April 2017, by April 2016, the growth of the external debt by 8.9% and domestic debt by 50% increased the total state debt of Armenia by 14%. Only in January April 2017, external debt grew by 2.1%, domestic debt – by 9.1%, which increased the total national debt by 2.4%. In the structure of external debt 89.1% or $ 4.9 billion accounted for by the government, and the remaining 10.9% or $ 606.1 million – by the Central Bank. And the external debt of the government increased by 14% in April 2018 by April 2017, which is slightly lower than the growth rate of the external debt of the Central Bank by 15.9%, against the more modest growth rates in April 2017 by April 2016 – 8.3% and 6, respectively, 6%. Only in January-April 2018 the government’s external debt increased by 0.8% and the same growth was recorded in the external debt of the Central Bank (against growth of 0.7% and 3.6% a year earlier, respectively). Moreover, the external debt of both the government and the Central Bank, after monthly growth in the I quarter of 2018, in April showed a decline – by 0.7% and 0.8%, respectively, while a year earlier in January-April both the government and the Central Bank monthly increased external debt.

In the structure of the domestic state debt, government bonds dominate, in April 2018 the share was 87.9% ($ 1.2 billion or 567 billion AMD), with an annual growth of absolute value of 9.1%. Then followed the Armenian Eurobonds – $ 151.3 million or 73.1 billion AMD, which accounted for 11.3%, with an annual increase in the absolute value of 24.7%. The rest is covered by guarantees – 0.8% ($ 9 million), with an annual unchanged. Only for January-April 2018 domestic debt on government bonds increased by 9.1%, and on eurobonds, on the contrary, fell by 2.5%. A year earlier, in April 2017, government bonds accounted for 89% of the internal state debt structure, with an annual increase in the absolute value of 57.1%, followed by Eurobonds – 10.2%, with an annual increase in absolute value of 42.4%, and the share guarantees was 0.8%, with an annual increase in the absolute value of 7.1 times.

To note, according to the World Bank’s updated forecasts in May, the share of Armenia’s state debt in GDP is expected to be at 58.6%, with a slight decrease to 58.3% in 2019. On the economic growth of Armenia, the World Bank has improved its forecast for 2018 from the previous 3.8% to the current 4.1%, and by 2019, the growth expectations have been kept at 4%.

To note, Armenia’s state debt increased by 15.3% to $ 6.8 billion (3.3 trillion AMD) in 2017 due to the growth of external debt by 14.6% to $ 5.5 billion (2.7 trillion AMD) and the growth of domestic debt by 18.2% to $ 1.3 billion (619.5 billion AMD). By way of comparison, we note that for 2016, the growth of the external debt by 11.6% and domestic debt by 49% increased the total state debt of Armenia by 17%. The growing national debt and continuing migration in Armenia have already deepened the specific debt load per capita to $ 2.3 thousand by January 1, 2018, of which over $ 1.8 thousand comes from external debt, against $ 2 thousand and $ 1.6 thousand, respectively, by January 1, 2017. Taking into account the real scale of migration, the burden of public debt per capita would be much higher (according to statistical data as of January 1, 2018, the population of the RA was 2.973 million, against 2.986 million a year earlier and 3.274 million five years earlier). In 2017, the degree of coverage of external debt with gold and foreign exchange reserves decreased from 45.9% to 39.6% amid a significant increase in external debt, with a meager decline in reserves. The share of national debt in Armenia’s GDP reached 58.8% by the end of 2017, against 56.6% in 2016.

Expert: EAEU should not be an instrument of pressure on Armenia on Karabakh issue

Anna Tamamian
Arminfo, Armenia
June 1 2018
Expert: EAEU should not be an instrument of pressure on Armenia on Karabakh issue

Yerevan June 1

Mariana Mkrtchyan. The countries of the EAEU should respect Armenia in cooperation with Azerbaijan, including in the defense sphere. Political scientist Gevorg Melikyan stated at the round table “New Challenges and Threats for Eurasian Integration” on June 1.

According to him, building the relationship with this or that country is the sovereign right of each of the states, but one cannot ignore Armenia’s position on a number of sensitive issues. In this context, he recalled that Armenia’s allies in the EAEU Russia and Belarus sell weapons to Azerbaijan, the president of another union state Nursultan Nazarbayev read out the statement of the Azerbaijani leader at the meeting of the EAEU, which can not but cause concern. “We need to balance the partnership within this structure, the EAEU should not become an instrument of pressure on Armenia on the Nagorno-Karabakh issue, moreover, the EAEU is not the platform where such a plan should be discussed at all,” the political scientist said.

At the same time, he stressed that he always opposed Armenia’s accession to the EAEU, since he considers this structure to be ineffective. In his deep conviction, since Armenia does not plan to leave the structure in the foreseeable future, it is necessary to do everything to enhance the effectiveness of this integration association. Melikyan believes that it is necessary to avoid dividing lines in general. In this regard, he recalled that, to some extent, in his opinion, Armenia’s decision on membership in EAEU was dictated from outside, however, Yerevan’s complementary policy and its interaction with other integration projects should not cause concern in the future for the partners in the EAEU. According to the expert, it is necessary to increase the transparency of the EAEU, actively involve civil society and the expert community of countries in the issues, so that the decisions taken within the framework of the organization would not be decisions made by five people. In addition, it is necessary to specify the organization vector.

In turn, the Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Armenia Timur Urazaeva, reacting to this speech of the expert, stressed that official Astana from the very beginning expressed its position at all levels and stated clearly that the EAEU is exclusively an economic integration project. He noted that Kazakhstan is very actively involved in solving issues within the EAEU and the expert community and representatives of civil society. For this purpose, all mechanisms have been created in the EAEU. All countries-members of the organization have the opportunity to conduct discussions on various issues at different levels, as Kazakhstan does for example, expressing its position on this or that issue. According to the Ambassador, another question is whether these mechanisms are used at the national level, that is, it is the national task to make these mechanisms work effectively.

Touching upon the geopolitical aspect of cooperation and the issue of arms deliveries to Azerbaijan, the ambassador noted that he is not going to act as a lawyer for Russia or Belarus, expressing the conviction that they are able to answer for themselves. “But I would like to remind you that Kazakhstan has repeatedly stated that having a developed military-industrial complex, nevertheless, it will not sell weapons, but at the same time, for example, Russia does this, it must be understood that” this is business, nothing personal, Russia will sell it, someone else will sell it, moreover, the ambassador said, each state has its own agenda of bilateral cooperation, including in the defense sphere, and Kazakhstan-Azerbaijan cooperation in the defense sphere is quite dynamic. “But I would like to note, that despite the fact that Kazakhstan’s production we have always refrained from taking steps in this direction.As for the letter read by our president, in my opinion, this is quite an honest position – at the start of cooperation, at the initial stage, to voice its position. going to swim a deep river with partners, then negotiate on this side of the coast.This is a preventive measure in order to honestly negotiate with partners, so as not to leave legal wagons that can be used, including the third party”. The Ambassador expressed his belief that Kazakhstan’s position is fairly honest.