Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Baghdasarian Demands State Funding For Savings Compensation

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Baghdasarian Demands State Funding For Savings Compensation

    BAGHDASARIAN DEMANDS STATE FUNDING FOR SAVINGS COMPENSATION
    By Astghik Bedevian

    Armenialiberty.org, Armenia
    Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
    Oct 4 2005

    Parliament speaker Artur Baghdasarian demanded on Tuesday that the
    Armenian government begin compensating the population for the dramatic
    depreciation of its Soviet-era bank deposits, a major theme of his
    socioeconomic discourse dismissed as populist by his foes.

    Baghdasarian warned his coalition partners against scuttling the
    passage of a controversial bill that suggests a partial solution
    to the problem. He said agreement on enacting the bill was reached
    by his Orinats Yerkir Party, Prime Minister Andranik Markarian's
    Republican Party (HHK) and the third coalition partner, the Armenian
    Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) at a meeting with President
    Robert Kocharian last week.

    "I hope that the political agreement will be honored by the Republican
    Party and other political forces that joined this initiative," he
    told reporters, alluding to the HHK's long-running opposition to the
    proposed compensation.

    The bill in question, which was blocked by Markarian's cabinet last
    year, was unexpectedly included on the Armenian parliament's agenda
    on Monday. It calls for $83 million in public funds to be paid to
    the former deposit holders within the next ten years.

    Leaders of the National Assembly's largest faction controlled by
    the HHK continue to believe that the proposed sum is too modest to
    address the problem and would lead to a waste of scarce government
    resources. They indicated that they will block debate on the Orinats
    Yerkir bill, arguing that the government's draft budget for next year
    does not earmark anything for the savings compensation.

    "The budget must certainly include a relevant provision," insisted
    Baghdasarian. "Armenia will have a $1 billion budget next year. This
    means the ongoing economic growth is allowing us to gradually address
    socioeconomic problems. If the fight against corruption becomes more
    effective, there will be even more funds at our disposal."

    Orinats Yerkir is represented in the government with three ministers.

    None of them is known to have opposed the draft budget approved by
    the executive last week.
Working...
X