Category: News

Huge amounts of money have been accumulated in the pension funds of Armenia. They do not reach the banking system, but they are not small amounts either. They yield half to the state budget. We are talking about almost 1.5 trillion drams, which is equivalent to more than 4 billion dollars at today’s exchange rate.

By the standards of our economy, this is a huge amount. Any government would dream of having the opportunity to manage such free funds and use them for the implementation of economic as well as infrastructural projects. But what are the current rulers of Armenia doing? Pension funds have become a purse from which they borrow money for the budget. Instead, they should think about directing this opportunity to the implementation of serious economic programs.

In the form of pension funds, we are dealing with large financial resources, which hardly serve the development of the economy. Even if these funds enter the economy through different channels, their economic result is very low. There are almost no direct injections into the economy.

Why is it like that, you have to ask the authorities, who are still unable to create favorable conditions so that those huge sums formed at the expense of the citizens’ pockets and the state budget effectively serve the economy.

At the time, when the cumulative pension system was introduced, the goal was to use these funds for the development of the country, to ensure economic results. Years pass, money increases at a fairly active pace, but their economic result is not noticeable. After the legislative changes implemented last year, the funds were allowed to invest 10 percent of the money in the real economy. Currently, only one such program is known. We are talking about financial participation in the construction of an artificial intelligence and data processing factory in Hrazdan through a syndicated loan with the banking system.

Instead of investing directly in economic programs, most of the money in pension funds is deposited in banks or loaned to the government to finance budget deficits.

As much as the chairman of the Central Bank considers that the money of the funds is spent so efficiently and purposefully, in reality their effectiveness for the economy is extremely low.

“There are more than 1 trillion drams in the accumulated pension funds of Armenia, at least 60 percent of which are invested in the economy of Armenia.

I think that, yes, these funds serve the economy,” the Central Bank President announced recently in the National Assembly.

Indirectly, those sums may enter the economy, but after a significant price increase.

More than 25 percent of the funds of the pension funds are deposited in banks, mainly dram deposits. It is known that the price of dram deposits today reaches 9-10 percent. This means that before entering the economy, that money becomes significantly more expensive in the banking system. And when it enters the economy through loans, the price sometimes reaches 15-18 percent. Then we wonder why loans are so expensive in Armenia. Funds, in turn, make money on that money, banks on themselves.

Instead of becoming expensive loans in banks, these funds could reach the economy in a much cheaper form, if there were necessary funds and channels for this. But these means and infrastructures in Armenia are very weak or do not work efficiently.

One of the reasons is that there are no reliable programs.

“We need real good projects, which will be financed by pension funds with pleasure,” says the President of the Central Bank.

Pension funds may be happy to finance such projects, but where in our country are prospective, and even more so, large projects to be invested in? The construction of the artificial intelligence factory, which “fell from the sky”, was more of a political than an economic project.

The authorities should be asked why there are no “real good projects” in Armenia. They did it in such a way that they do not come close to the existing projects, let alone implement new projects. Who should implement an investment project in a country where investment security is almost zero? They can enter into an agreement with the investor or simply take away the property. In such conditions, it is not the pension funds who want to be, no matter how much free funds they have, they have not eaten their brains with bread to invest in the economy.

And since it is so, the money of the pension funds goes to the bank and becomes an expensive credit instrument. Another part is lent to the government through bonds. No matter how absurd it is, the government, on the one hand, gives the funds from the state budget to the funds, and on the other hand, takes it back with interest through bonds, so that it can finance the same budget deficit.

It is difficult to imagine such an inefficient expenditure of budget funds. But this is what it is.

It turned out that almost 42 percent of pension fund funds are invested in bonds. It is about 1.7 billion dollars.

The main part of that amount, almost 1.5 billion, is invested in government bonds. In other words, a loan was given to the government.

The internal debt of the government, which has increased several times in recent years, has also increased due to these amounts. At the moment, the government owes 1.5 billion dollars to the pension funds.

Almost 1.3 billion dollars of the fund’s funds are invested in the so-called collective investment instrument. This is the real and effective investment. But those funds are not invested in the economies of Armenia, but of other countries. In Armenia, even if there are such investments, they are too few.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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In a briefing with journalists, the head of the General Staff of the RA Armed Forces once again urged them not to ask him questions about Nikol Pashinyan’s targeting of Artsakh citizens, reminding him of his military position.

“The Prime Minister of RA did not say something like that: you are from Artsakh, I am Armenian, I hold a responsible position, head of the RA Armed Forces General Staff, and I fulfill the tasks set before me,” he emphasized.

Referring to the demarcation and demarcation process, Edward Asryan noted that these works have a basis – the corresponding map.

“The main headquarters has this map, and we carry out our work according to its requirements. There is also a representative of the Armed Forces in the commission, who knows military cartography very well, knows all the requirements of that map,” he said, stressing that the territory of Armenia is 29,743 square meters.

“Not an inch of ground will be surrendered. If these enclaves are included in the 29743 square kilometers of RA, not a millimeter of land will be handed over,” stressed the head of the General Directorate.

It should be noted that the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia announced on one occasion that “the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia is guided by the 1975 topographical map of the USSR on a scale of 1:100,000, which has legal force.”

168.amtoo had written, that the actual area of ​​RA is not 29,743 sq km, because, according to Pashinyan’s article, it also includes the occupied 200 sq km, which has not been restored, which Edward Asryan does not talk about. Instead, he says that if the “enclaves” enter it, they will not surrender, knowing full well that Pashinyan has announced that the 3 villages of Tavush and Tigranashen will surrender. In other words, Edward Asryan says the same thing in an indirect way.

Details in the video

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There are currently no concrete dates for the opening of the Turkish-Armenian border, further steps will depend on the progress of the process of normalization of relations between the two countries, a Turkish government source told RIA Novosti.

Ankara and Yerevan completed preparations for the start of direct trade between the two countries in mid-May, Turkish Foreign Ministry official Onju Keçeli said.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told journalists earlier that Turkey will start supplying its goods to Armenia without reformulating them in third countries. “At this stage, there are no specific dates for opening the border. The dynamics of the process will depend on the development of relations between Turkey and Armenia“, the interlocutor of the agency informed.

The source added: Ankara expects the continuation of constructive dialogue, which will contribute to the strengthening of stability in the South Caucasus and the development of neighborly ties.

There are no diplomatic relations between Turkey and Armenia, the border has been closed since 1993. In January 2022, the first meeting of the special representatives of the process of normalization of relations between Armenia and Turkey, Ruben Rubinyan, the Deputy Speaker of the Armenian Parliament, and Serdar Kılıç, the former ambassador of Turkey to the USA, took place in Moscow.

During the meeting between Rubinyan and Kilic in Vienna on July 1, 2022, an agreement was reached to ensure the possibility of crossing the Armenian-Turkish land border by citizens of third countries and holders of diplomatic passports as soon as possible. However, this agreement has not yet been implemented.

Translation by Zhanna Avetisyan

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Violations, use of administrative resources, targeting of the opposition. similar records were made not only by the opposition circles, but also by various representatives of the observation missions monitoring the elections in Armenia.

On June 14, the Central Electoral Commission will publish the final results of the elections, and before that, we were informed that the PAP, “Wings of Unity” and “Armenia” bloc applied to the CEC for a recount.

After June 14, a five-day period for appeals has already been planned, and on June 19, political forces can apply to the Constitutional Court. After the absence of an appeal or the approval of the Constitutional Court, the process of allocating mandates will begin, ahead of the first session of the Parliament.

Human rights defender, lawyer Hovhannes Khudoyan recorded obvious violations in the pre-election and electoral process. 168:․am-in the conversation with, he specifically mentioned:

“The elections were not fair, objective, obviously, because even before the pre-election campaign, double standards were used, the government constantly gave charities outside of budget planning, forbade others to do so, they eavesdropped on everyone, many people were arrested on frivolous charges. There was a total abuse of administrative resources and in the background of all this, these results that we see also suggest that.

And the CEC turned a blind eye to the shortcomings. During the examination of Aram Sargsyan’s application, we learned that, for example, similar applications were also submitted by the “Strong Armenia” party, but they were not examined urgently and even today they have not been examined, but other complaints were examined as a matter of urgency.”

In any case, according to Hovhannes Khudoyan, the opposition, regardless of any emotional reactions, should not give up those tools that may be suitable for further struggle.

“It’s another question, how efficiently can the tools be used,” added the human rights defender, noting, “If, for example, the PAP also passes, then the CP does not get a constitutional majority.”

According to Hovhannes Khudoyan, this is perhaps not the desired result, but it is necessary in the perspective of somehow resisting the actions against Armenia.

Will the records of international observation missions be able to change the situation and, for example, create an objective picture of the level of democracy in Armenia in their own countries – we asked the human rights defender.

In response, he recorded: “There was interference in the elections of Armenia from all possible sides, but what is the problem? those countries intervene for the interests of their countries, based on their policies, and the government is constrained by that help, because they fix these violations, but then every time they will turn those violations against the government in order to extract something from Armenia.

In other words, by committing these criminal acts, this government makes itself vulnerable. Those countries fix it, but they don’t fix it for the sake of democracy and human rights, but they fix it as a club on the head of these authorities in order to make extortions for their interests in the future.

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Doctor of political science, professor, energy security expert Vahe Davtyan writes. “Political forces continue to practice law instead of politics.

They continue to measure reality by legal norms, persistently ignoring political principles and laws.

This is the reason why the opinion that the political struggle is practically absent in Armenia is hardening among the public.

Perhaps it was also absent during the pre-election phase, when the opposition was trying to compete with the political predator with white gloves.

There was competition. There was no struggle.

And so all the announcements about elections of existential, civilizational significance were nonsense. At the conversational level, I set a frame that you didn’t fit.

Today, at this moment, the streets and squares of Yerevan and other cities should have been flooded with people. A wave of widespread defiance should have been raised. I assure you, it wouldn’t hurt your law practice. On the contrary, it would strengthen your own position at the institutional level.

But you prefer not to take off your white gloves.

Regardless of the results of the recalculation, regardless of possible rearrangements, nothing will change in the relative sense. Because you will continue to practice law, and the political predator will continue to practice his direct business, politics.”

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