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PRIME MINISTER'S TRYING TO CHEAT
ARMAN GALOYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/interview23473.html
Published: 12:05:06 - 23/09/2011
Interview with Vahagn Khachatryan, member of the Armenian National
Congress, economist
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan announced in the last meeting of
government that Armenia has stepped into a stage of economic activity
and the assessments of international organizations are evidence to
this. "Our opponents should argue with the authoritative international
organization which publish these assessments and indices, rather than
the government," he said. Would you please comment on this statement?
Tigran Sargsyan and his team are busy with pleasing the world rather
than working for Armenia addressing the problems of the country. In
2009, the crisis caused a 14 percent decline which was followed by
some growth. Now the international agencies state that a positive
tendency was observed in some areas of the economy. It is a natural
phenomena, that is the way it should be. But when these assessments
satisfy the government, they start trumpeting it every now and then.
But when one of these organizations gives a negative assessment,
they immediately call this organization as bad, non-professional,
and their assessments non-true. If you remember, there was a similar
reaction to the publication of the Forbes which stated an economic
decline and ranked Armenia as the second worst economy in the world.
However, what matters is that no positive change has taken place
in the economy of Armenia and there could not have been such. We do
not criticize for the sake of criticism. We have always evaluated the
situation objectively, and we repeat that the economy in Armenia is in
an extremely bad state. Moreover, the economic crisis persists, and we
are facing decline. Our economy depends heavily on the Russian economy
and the world raw material market changes. The economy of Armenia is
affected essentially by two factors, the changes of oil and metal
prices, and remittances from Russia. If these two factors are not
positive, our economy does not exist. In other words, we are not an
independent economy which has its logic of development. We remain a
country with a deplorable economy, which is dominated by monopolies,
oligarchs, which depends on the wishes of people who stand at the
top level of the government. They decide the buy and sell price of
products, they decide the amount of tax each businessman should pay,
and the amount to the slush funds. For Tigran Sargsyan's information,
these are not only our evaluation but also the evaluation of foreign
businessmen, Diaspora Armenians who have ever had to deal with this
government.
In your opinion, does the assessment that Armenia has entered a stage
of economic activity refer to post-crisis reconstruction?
It is just the ultimate level of cynicism. In this situation when the
world economy is facing the second stage of the crisis, when Russia
and Europe echoed negatively the evaluations on the future of the U.S.
economy, such a statement by someone who holds the post of prime
minister has one simple explanation: the situation is out of their
control, and they are trying to cheat us. Meanwhile, it proves that
they must leave, and the sooner, the better. The Armenian economy
cannot enter a stage of growth because there are no resources for
growth. On the contrary, 2012-2013 are going to be extremely hard years
for the Armenian economy. I know that they have already applied to
international organizations, asking to delay the payment of external
debt service obligations. If Tigran Sargsyan thinks he can use the
foreign debt to activate our economy, he is badly mistaken because
there is nobody to lend money, considering the experience of Greece,
Spain, Italy, Portugal where the external debt and state budget are
problem 1. Today, according to some evaluations, even in the United
States, economic growth is questioned. Can you remember discussions
in the U.S. House and Senate?
Do you think Armenia will be able to cope with the second stage of
the crisis?
They came up with a solution to cope with the crisis in 2009 but they
tripled foreign debt. They did not find another solution, they just
went around, seeking for money here and there. Now, how are they going
to cope with the second stage? Have they created jobs? Is people's
income up? Are investments up? How about exports?
Export growth was reported only thanks to molybdenum and copper
prices, but not in terms of absolute numbers, simply in the amount
result. Meanwhile, you and me and the others live in Armenia and
we the citizens of Armenia can answer if we can feel the result of
stepping into a stage of economic activity. On the contrary, we can
see other activity in growth of prices. Another wave of inflation is
there. Are they aware of this? Do they know that due to the rise of
price of cocoa chocolate prices soared by 40-60%, after the price of
sugar went up, the prices of products including sugar also soared? Why
are they trying to cheat us?
In that case, why does the prime minister make such statements?
He only wants to indicate that he and his government are good, simply
irreplaceable. They don't want to speak about their failures and blame
the others. They think if they are thriving, so are the others. The
higher the level of cynicism, the bigger the lie.
ARMAN GALOYAN
Story from Lragir.am News:
http://www.lragir.am/engsrc/interview23473.html
Published: 12:05:06 - 23/09/2011
Interview with Vahagn Khachatryan, member of the Armenian National
Congress, economist
Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan announced in the last meeting of
government that Armenia has stepped into a stage of economic activity
and the assessments of international organizations are evidence to
this. "Our opponents should argue with the authoritative international
organization which publish these assessments and indices, rather than
the government," he said. Would you please comment on this statement?
Tigran Sargsyan and his team are busy with pleasing the world rather
than working for Armenia addressing the problems of the country. In
2009, the crisis caused a 14 percent decline which was followed by
some growth. Now the international agencies state that a positive
tendency was observed in some areas of the economy. It is a natural
phenomena, that is the way it should be. But when these assessments
satisfy the government, they start trumpeting it every now and then.
But when one of these organizations gives a negative assessment,
they immediately call this organization as bad, non-professional,
and their assessments non-true. If you remember, there was a similar
reaction to the publication of the Forbes which stated an economic
decline and ranked Armenia as the second worst economy in the world.
However, what matters is that no positive change has taken place
in the economy of Armenia and there could not have been such. We do
not criticize for the sake of criticism. We have always evaluated the
situation objectively, and we repeat that the economy in Armenia is in
an extremely bad state. Moreover, the economic crisis persists, and we
are facing decline. Our economy depends heavily on the Russian economy
and the world raw material market changes. The economy of Armenia is
affected essentially by two factors, the changes of oil and metal
prices, and remittances from Russia. If these two factors are not
positive, our economy does not exist. In other words, we are not an
independent economy which has its logic of development. We remain a
country with a deplorable economy, which is dominated by monopolies,
oligarchs, which depends on the wishes of people who stand at the
top level of the government. They decide the buy and sell price of
products, they decide the amount of tax each businessman should pay,
and the amount to the slush funds. For Tigran Sargsyan's information,
these are not only our evaluation but also the evaluation of foreign
businessmen, Diaspora Armenians who have ever had to deal with this
government.
In your opinion, does the assessment that Armenia has entered a stage
of economic activity refer to post-crisis reconstruction?
It is just the ultimate level of cynicism. In this situation when the
world economy is facing the second stage of the crisis, when Russia
and Europe echoed negatively the evaluations on the future of the U.S.
economy, such a statement by someone who holds the post of prime
minister has one simple explanation: the situation is out of their
control, and they are trying to cheat us. Meanwhile, it proves that
they must leave, and the sooner, the better. The Armenian economy
cannot enter a stage of growth because there are no resources for
growth. On the contrary, 2012-2013 are going to be extremely hard years
for the Armenian economy. I know that they have already applied to
international organizations, asking to delay the payment of external
debt service obligations. If Tigran Sargsyan thinks he can use the
foreign debt to activate our economy, he is badly mistaken because
there is nobody to lend money, considering the experience of Greece,
Spain, Italy, Portugal where the external debt and state budget are
problem 1. Today, according to some evaluations, even in the United
States, economic growth is questioned. Can you remember discussions
in the U.S. House and Senate?
Do you think Armenia will be able to cope with the second stage of
the crisis?
They came up with a solution to cope with the crisis in 2009 but they
tripled foreign debt. They did not find another solution, they just
went around, seeking for money here and there. Now, how are they going
to cope with the second stage? Have they created jobs? Is people's
income up? Are investments up? How about exports?
Export growth was reported only thanks to molybdenum and copper
prices, but not in terms of absolute numbers, simply in the amount
result. Meanwhile, you and me and the others live in Armenia and
we the citizens of Armenia can answer if we can feel the result of
stepping into a stage of economic activity. On the contrary, we can
see other activity in growth of prices. Another wave of inflation is
there. Are they aware of this? Do they know that due to the rise of
price of cocoa chocolate prices soared by 40-60%, after the price of
sugar went up, the prices of products including sugar also soared? Why
are they trying to cheat us?
In that case, why does the prime minister make such statements?
He only wants to indicate that he and his government are good, simply
irreplaceable. They don't want to speak about their failures and blame
the others. They think if they are thriving, so are the others. The
higher the level of cynicism, the bigger the lie.