Epress.am News from Armenia
About $70 million USD is spent during elections in Armenia, according to approximate calculations by economist Samvel Avagyan, who included the expenses of all candidates and political parties, as well as the allocations from the state budget in his calculations.
Speaking to journalists in the capital today, Avagyan said the elections have a dual impact on economic process — direct and indirect. Direct influences are manifested through retail trade, publishing, advertising, the media industry and foreign exchange rates.
“If you follow closely, the impact of the elections to a certain extent is reflected in official statistics — particularly during the 2007 parliamentary election, there was a recorded 20% increase in retail trade in the month of April alone. Also recorded was a certain appreciation of the exchange rate against the dollar. These are direct influences,” he said.
The main indirect influence, according to the economist, is that during the campaign period investment is reduced to some extent, since the business sector is actively involved in political processes and expectant (standby) situations arise, as a result of which investment suffers.
“Furthermore, those populist promises which are made during that time by different political forces, by the ruling political party and opposition parties, negatively affect government programs, since the government likewise, it seems, begins to take certain populist action,” he said.