Epress.am News from Armenia
It will be quite difficult to restore and put into normal working order the country’s economy even after systemic changes in Armenia’s current economic situation, said former prime minister of Armenia, leader of the Freedom political party and creator of the Armenian National Congress “100 Steps” program Hrant Bagratyan, meeting late last week with youth members of the parties within the opposition bloc.
“Our country today lives on account of money transferred from outside [primarily through family members working abroad & sending money back home], but imagine, for example, money comes to Armenia from Russia, Armenian citizens spend that money by buying products from Lfik and Nemets [referring to businesses owned by Samvel Aleksanyan and Ruben Hayrapetyan], but they trust Armenia the least and they invest that money outside, in other countries. It turns out that the money entering Armenia is not put into circulation inside Armenia, but very quickly leaves the country — and that, irretrievably,” he said.
According to him, prior to getting out of the difficult economic situation the country finds itself in, first of all, the “oligarchs” have to be taxed, the monopolies have to be eliminated and the work of the Central Bank has to be monitored.
Bagratyan drew participants’ attention to the RA Central Bank’s activities during the period of acute crisis. “The head of the Central Bank declares that during the crisis not one bank went bankrupt. But how is that? Are we working for the banks, so that they don’t go bankrupt? That means that the banks didn’t go bankrupt on our account; they snatched it from us so that no bank suffers,” he said.
Photo: Freedom of Information Center of Armenia