Armenia : Government’s luxury cars vs. starving population

By Azernews

By Rashid Shirinov

The Armenian government has recently started to apply a policy of saving to somehow cut the budget expenses and slowdown the economic crisis, while Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan ordered to get rid of about 800 cars serving government officials.

However, as local media reports, this order is being followed in ‘Armenian style’.

The parking lots in front of the government buildings still “look like a fleet of expensive cars”, reports the Aravot newspaper.

The newspaper reports that apparently, the premier’s order has not reached the target – high-ranking officials cannot abandon their expensive and comfortable cars purchased at the expense of taxes paid by ordinary Armenians.

Therefore, the officials came up with a tricky idea – to sell only the unused cars that came to an unsuitable condition. Armenian media reports that the list of sold cars does not include a single car serving any high-ranking official.

“As it turns out, the list totally consists of extremely old, faulty and even decommissioned cars. And expensive vehicles continue to devour the budget and money of the population.

“This luxury is especially conspicuous on the background of the protesters, who gather in front of the government buildings putting forward different demands, starting from getting unpaid wages till the government resignation.  Some seek a well-deserved retirement, others are in need of housing which was lost because of the ‘state needs’, and others demand justice for their sons deceased in the army,” the newspaper notes.

The paper notes that instead of cleansing the government from corrupt members, who make up its majority, Abrahamyan tries to pass off the reduction of cars as an element of his anti-corruption struggle.

In the meantime, demonstrations in front of the Armenian government still continue…