Pashinyan’s economic strategy provokes irritation in Armenia

By Azernews

By Sara Israfilbayova

The Armenian economy is going through hard times and the government is almost unable to resolve existing problems. The country, which has been occupying the lands of neighboring Azerbaijan, is in a deep crisis.

Further evidence of the fact is that the only giant of the Armenian economy “Rusal Armenal” plans to start massive reductions from September 1.

“Rusal Armenal”, established in 2000 on the basis of the Kanaker Aluminum Plant, is wholly owned by Russia’s largest aluminium company “Rusal”.

The plant leadership announced that due to the U.S. sanctions, the volume of exports and revenues decreased. Employees of the plant are alarmed - many of them will remain unemployed from September.

Commenting on the issue, Armenian economist Movses Aristakesyan said that the U.S. sanctions are fairly applied to the corrupt economies of corrupt countries. The former authorities of Armenia should not consistently get rid of a number of strategic facilities, making them the property of Russia, he added.

“Former authorities did not need to abandon objects of strategic importance, to sell property for debts. The governing bodies of the previous authorities should have understood this, passing the factories to the hands of the Russian authorities,” the economist explained, adding that Armenia lost sovereignty, economic and, therefore, social security.

Moreover, the economic weakness of Armenia was confirmed also by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. A few days ago he presented the theses of the government’s economic strategy and once again irritated the specialists.

The Armenian Prime Minister repeated the cliches like “stable economy”, “export-oriented economy”, “high-tech economy”, etc., which annoy and irritate people of Armenia.

It’s curious that talking about tourism, Pashinyan got confused in figures and in an attempt to present a positive on the suspension of migration, mixed together the migration and tourist flows. In a word, the prime minister mixed up the indicators, wishing to show how the migration under his rule decreased.

Pashinyan’s attempts only irritate the citizens of the country, especially those who have a little sense in the subject.

Earlier, journalists held a monitoring in a number of large retail outlets in Yerevan and found out that contrary to the assurances and promises of the prime minister, prices have gone up on almost all food products - dairy and meat products, vegetables and fruits.

Even prices on bread are increased and some of the leaders of large bakeries told reporters that the rise in prices is due to rising prices for Russian flour.

Price rise against the background of falling incomes of the population in Armenia threatens to erupt an economic catastrophe.

Although the authorities are trying to cover the economic shocks in the country in a decent digestible for the public wrapper, the scale of the problem actually promises to go far beyond any decency.

Unlike the fictional reality that the Armenian authorities are speaking about, this is the real situation in the country. Armenian experts note that the government is only engaged in pretending to solve economic and social problems and allegedly create a favorable environment.