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PRICE WATCH: DRAM REBOUNDS, INFLATION WORRIES LINGER
ECONOMY | 19.12.14 | 11:03
http://armenianow.com/economy/59501/armenia_prices_dollar_dram_prime_minister_hovik_ab rahamyan
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Taking advantage of dramatic fluctuations of currency exchange rates
in recent days some Armenian businessmen increased prices of basic
foodstuffs and other essentials that fueled concerns and even created
some panic among citizens.
Within a week prices for some goods increased by 40 percent, leading
to some panic buying at places where prices were not raised and making
some stores set limits on purchases of basic foodstuffs like sugar,
flour, butter, etc. People compared the situation with the early
1990s when bread and butter were rationed and available to buyers
only by ration coupons.
"People are afraid of facing the same situation that they already
experienced before. Within a few hours prices went up. Coffee and
grains, sausages and dairies, meat products, let alone bread - we
used to buy bread for 210 AMD, this morning it was 250. The price of
one egg went from 70 to 100 AMD, cooking oil prices went from 800 to
1,100 AMD. And all this happens at the threshold of New Year holidays,
this is the end of Armenia," housewife Zhanna Martirosyan, 60, said.
The stores that suspended trade and closed in anticipation of stability
on the currency market reopened on Thursday as the dram that had
hit its historic lows of nearly 600 the previous night rebounded to
460-480. However, no similarly 'dramatic' decrease in prices would
take place.
In the afternoon Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan visited a number
of supermarkets to check the prices and see for himself what the
situation in retail trade is.
At one of the stores he told reporters that in the case with a number
of products there were ungrounded price increases which he said he
corrected on the spot. And in the supermarkets he visited there were
price "variations" for eggs, which was fixed as well.
On Thursday at the government meeting the premier said that the
government will not tolerate ungrounded price increases, emphasizing
the particularly obvious price increase of sugar, flour and other
basic foodstuffs. He instructed Artak Shaboyan, the head of the
State Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC),
to look into the matter.
During the recent days parallel to food prices, prices for medicines
also were raised.
"Blood pressure and diabetes drugs got more expensive. Now they make
us go straight to the other world, don't they? How can they tease
people like this? They are those who import, who sell, who cheat the
people, what do they demand from anyone else?" Margarita Hambartsumyan,
55, said.
PM Abrahamyan also instructed Health Minister Armen Muradyan to
follow trade in the medicines market to understand what is happening
in that sector.
Meanwhile, many believe that if prices continue to climb up, Armenia
may see another wave of outbound migration.
Albert Sargsyan from Yerevan believes that what is taking place today
will only increase poverty.
"I believe all this has a speculative nature. They needed to raise
the dollar and they did so, now they lowered it. This is the way the
country's oligarchs get richer," he said.
The price-increase waves had spread across all Armenia. In the second
largest city of Gyumri some had stopped wholesale trade in flour
and sugar, it restarted only yesterday. In Kapan sugar was sold for
500-600 AMD, instead of previous 420.
Buckwheat, grains and flour prices increased by 200-300 AMD. Citizens
hope that dram exchange rate stabilization will also lead to price
decreases, and closer to the New Year prices will not rise again.
From: Baghdasarian
ECONOMY | 19.12.14 | 11:03
http://armenianow.com/economy/59501/armenia_prices_dollar_dram_prime_minister_hovik_ab rahamyan
By GAYANE MKRTCHYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
Taking advantage of dramatic fluctuations of currency exchange rates
in recent days some Armenian businessmen increased prices of basic
foodstuffs and other essentials that fueled concerns and even created
some panic among citizens.
Within a week prices for some goods increased by 40 percent, leading
to some panic buying at places where prices were not raised and making
some stores set limits on purchases of basic foodstuffs like sugar,
flour, butter, etc. People compared the situation with the early
1990s when bread and butter were rationed and available to buyers
only by ration coupons.
"People are afraid of facing the same situation that they already
experienced before. Within a few hours prices went up. Coffee and
grains, sausages and dairies, meat products, let alone bread - we
used to buy bread for 210 AMD, this morning it was 250. The price of
one egg went from 70 to 100 AMD, cooking oil prices went from 800 to
1,100 AMD. And all this happens at the threshold of New Year holidays,
this is the end of Armenia," housewife Zhanna Martirosyan, 60, said.
The stores that suspended trade and closed in anticipation of stability
on the currency market reopened on Thursday as the dram that had
hit its historic lows of nearly 600 the previous night rebounded to
460-480. However, no similarly 'dramatic' decrease in prices would
take place.
In the afternoon Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan visited a number
of supermarkets to check the prices and see for himself what the
situation in retail trade is.
At one of the stores he told reporters that in the case with a number
of products there were ungrounded price increases which he said he
corrected on the spot. And in the supermarkets he visited there were
price "variations" for eggs, which was fixed as well.
On Thursday at the government meeting the premier said that the
government will not tolerate ungrounded price increases, emphasizing
the particularly obvious price increase of sugar, flour and other
basic foodstuffs. He instructed Artak Shaboyan, the head of the
State Commission on the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC),
to look into the matter.
During the recent days parallel to food prices, prices for medicines
also were raised.
"Blood pressure and diabetes drugs got more expensive. Now they make
us go straight to the other world, don't they? How can they tease
people like this? They are those who import, who sell, who cheat the
people, what do they demand from anyone else?" Margarita Hambartsumyan,
55, said.
PM Abrahamyan also instructed Health Minister Armen Muradyan to
follow trade in the medicines market to understand what is happening
in that sector.
Meanwhile, many believe that if prices continue to climb up, Armenia
may see another wave of outbound migration.
Albert Sargsyan from Yerevan believes that what is taking place today
will only increase poverty.
"I believe all this has a speculative nature. They needed to raise
the dollar and they did so, now they lowered it. This is the way the
country's oligarchs get richer," he said.
The price-increase waves had spread across all Armenia. In the second
largest city of Gyumri some had stopped wholesale trade in flour
and sugar, it restarted only yesterday. In Kapan sugar was sold for
500-600 AMD, instead of previous 420.
Buckwheat, grains and flour prices increased by 200-300 AMD. Citizens
hope that dram exchange rate stabilization will also lead to price
decreases, and closer to the New Year prices will not rise again.
From: Baghdasarian