The upcoming parliamentary elections in Armenia and the struggle between the ruling party and the opposition, which erupted in connection with the elections, are in the focus of the Armenian media. The Armenian press writes about whether Dmitry Medvedev will bring good news about lower gas prices, guesses who will become the president of the country in 2018, and wonders why the Central Bank of Armenia is not in a hurry to publish data on money sent from abroad to physical individuals in February through Armenian banks.
The Zhamanak newspaper writes: "It is noticeable that the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) will attempt to play the generational change card in the upcoming domestic events with the expectation of public support, trying to create an impression during the pre-election situation that the image of the Republican Party is changing, that the RPA brings representatives of the new generation, who are not local authorities with nicknames or oligarchs, they are educated, speak different languages, they are intellectuals and play 'What? Where? When?' and so on. Of course, it may be a good thing if it covers appropriate content and this layer wouldn't serve as a veil for the Republican Party's criminal-oligarchic nature, but would be really concerned about the development of the state. But the public has had a chance to see what the new RPA generation is, and, therefore, it is not difficult for Armenian society to imagine what a succession of generations in the Republican Party would mean."
A columnist of the 'Chorrord Ishkhanutyun' newspaper writes: "Serzh Sargsyan has started the process of tuning the state political system in Armenia through the ruling party. Comparing the steps carried out in different directions, you can roughly guess his vision for the future of Armenia or the ultimate goal of the process. The Republican Party leaders say what forces there will be in the next parliament and which will 'fall into hibernation', which parties are constructive and which are marginal. That is, the vision of Serzh Sargsyan is: it is not desirable to allow MPs like 'Shmice' [Arakel Movsisyan - VK] into the next parliament, but it is also undesirable to allow such forces in the parliament, which will require a change of government or seriously seek power."
The Zhamanak newspaper comments on the 'roadmap' for a change of government, promulgated by the opposition movement 'New Armenia'. "I must admit that it looks more like a declaration than a 'roadmap', as its indicated paragraphs are more endpoints than methods of achieving them. Politics is not a series of mechanical actions. Meanwhile, the public received such a document, which was presented as a 'roadmap'. Therefore, it's no surprise if the submitted document won't have broad political attention and support," the publication says.
The Hraparak newspaper reports: "the ‘Armenian Renaissance’ party met in Moscow with representatives of the Armenian community, and the constituent assembly of the All-Russian public organization ‘Armenian Renaissance’ was held on March 27, which was attended by the deputy chairman of the State Duma, the deputy head of 'United Russia', Sergey Zheleznyak. After the meeting, Artur Baghdasaryan invited dignitaries for lunch. According to our information, the new public organization will have 20 committees, including a cultural committee, a business club and a charity fund, which will operate on the entire territory of Russia. It's obvious that the ‘Armenian Renaissance’ party believes that it can be accessed to the National Assembly of Armenia through active work in Russia, which, incidentally, is illuminated by the TV channel Russia-24," the newspaper writes.
"There is a lot of turmoil in the Armenian government: it is preparing to meet Dmitry Medvedev, who will arrive in Armenia on April 7, the Day of Motherhood and Beauty, making a double celebration for the government, which has waited for him since December," the Hraparak newspaper writes. "Medvedev will visit Armenia not only to participate in the Council of EEU Prime Ministers, but also on a working visit, for this reason he will arrive a day earlier. The visit is crucial in the sense that the latter will speak about the decision to reduce gas prices in the presence of Serzh Sargsyan, not Hovik Abrahamyan. Other EEU prime ministers headed by Tigran Sargsyan will arrive in Armenia on the next day," the newspaper concludes.
Diplomatic circles began to whisper that the Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian may become the President of Armenia in 2018, the Haykakan Zhamanak newspaper writes. "It is still unknown where the rumor come from. According to the new Constitution, the President of Armenia will be elected with very limited powers by the National Assembly, while the real power will be in the Prime Minister's hands. Until now, different names were called among candidates for the next president of the country, including names of the President of the Constitutional Court, Gagik Harutyunyan, the ambassador of Armenia to the UK, Armen Sarkisyan and the head of the Apparatus of Employees of the President, Vigen Sargsyan. There is evidence that the former secretary of the National Security Council, Arthur Baghdasaryan, dreams about this post. But the Foreign Minister of Armenia Edward Nalbandian's name on the list is something new," the author concludes.
In connection with the visit of the head of the Georgian Foreign Ministry to Armenia, the Zhoghovurd newspaper notes possible issues on the agenda: "Now programs related to economic development are especially relevant in addition to traditional issues of the Armenian-Georgian agenda, as well as new challenges linked with developments in the region. In particular, the possible transit of Iranian gas to Georgia through the territory of Armenia has been discussed for a long period of time. About a month ago Deputy Prime Minister and Georgian Minister of Energy Kakha Kaladze stated that the Armenian side should receive an agreement on this issue. The ambiguous situation that has developed in recent years around the transit of Russian gas to Armenia in the context of both the Georgian-Russian and Armenian-Russian negotiations also remains topical."
The theme of Russian gas was covered by the Haykakan Zhamanak: "According to our information, a preliminary agreement was reached in the course of negotiations on a reduction in the Russian gas supplied to Armenia. Thus, the tariff for Russian gas will decrease by about 12%,'' the newspaper notes. "Now Armenia pays $165 to buy 1000 cubic meters of Russian gas. In case of reduction of the rate by 12%, the price for 1000 cubic meters of gas will be $146. This is only a preliminary agreement. If it becomes final, then this will be announced in 10 days during the forthcoming visit of Russian Federation Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev to Armenia. If the final agreement about the gas tariff is achieved then the new price will take effect ex-post retroactively, starting from April 1st. It is also expected that the KROU will convene an emergency meeting to reduce the tariff on gas, which is delivered for the domestic consumer. The price may drop 10 drams to 146 drams for 1 cubic meter (the current price is 156 drams) The cost of gas will also decrease for large consumers, from the current $272 per 1000 cubic meters to $260," the newspaper reports.
The Moody's international rating agency has decreased the rating of Armenia. Of course, it is a negative event that decreased the creditworthiness of Armenia, 168 Zham reports. "The ratings of the two Armenian banks, Ardshinbank and VTB (Armenia), also decreased, which is simply a consequence of the reduction of the country's rating. However, the creditworthiness is not determined by the current state at the moment, as it is a potential evaluation of the republic, where a lot of factors are taken into account. Fitch's revised the rating of Armenia in January and left it unchanged at the level of - 8+ in comparison with Moody's. In the case of Armenia, Moody's estimated certain risks, which can be identified with the help of comparison with Georgia," the expert of the International center for human development, the economist Ashot Khurshudyan said, commenting on the reduction of emissioners and Armenian bonds from 833 to 61 by the Moody's authoritative rating agency. According to it, Armenia and Georgia had the same rating, but as a result of a review the rating of VAZ remained unchanged, and the rating of Armenia decreased, although some Georgian indicators were even worse in comparison with Armenia, for example, the depreciation of the national currency, the ratio of debt/GDP, and foreign trade indicators." There are long-term facts, and in the case of Georgia, that indicator wasn't reduced, as it is expected the signing of the Agreement on deepening and comprehensive free trade area with the European Union that will open new economic opportunities for Georgia. The Armenian integration with Russia will hardly bring good changes. There is a political factor, because the economy of Armenia is in direct dependence on the Russian Federation,'' the newspaper informs.
March is coming to an end, however, the Central Bank (CB) of Armenia isn't in a hurry to publish information about money that was sent abroad in February to the names of individuals through banks in Armenia, the Chorrord Ishkhanutiun publication reports. "These findings should have been published before March 20-25th. However, this slowness of the Central Bank is not a fortuity, and it may be assumed that the sum of transfers decreased so rapidly in February and the authorities have doubts about their disclosure. Moreover, during the last years the amounts of remittances from abroad only declined," the paper concludes.
The Zhoghovurd reports: "There have been a lot of tourists from Iran in Yerevan for several days. They travelled here to attend the celebration of their most important holiday of Novruz. There's no use in explaining to a reasonable person that tourists are an important factor for the country, but it is enough to walk along streets and ask people in order to make sure that the majority of our population is intolerant to foreigners, despite the fact that Armenia is claiming the title of the most hospitable nation. According to official figures, last year Armenia was visited by over 144,000 Iranian tourists. 10,000-15,000 liked to visit Armenia in the last third of March. One Iranian tourist spends about $800 in Armenia, but tourists who visit the festival of Nowruz tourists spend about $1000-1500. According to conservative estimates, in the last ten days of March Armenia's economy receives an "injection" amounting to $20 million. Therefore, every citizen of Armenia should be interested in a large number of tourists. They shouldn't treat tourists as a source of money. They should be satisfied that each of them wants to return to Armenia,'' the author of the publication concludes.
"Parents were demanded to pay property tax and community facilities in a kindergarten in Echmiadzin. Otherwise, it will be forbidden for their children to visit the kindergarten," the Haykakan Zhamanak reports. "The director of the kindergarten confirmed in an interview with our correspondent that such payments were discussed with parents. This wasn't ruled out by an official from the mayor's office of Echmiadzin, but they underlined that nobody had forbidden the children from visiting the kindergarten, and there are no children who are in this situation,'' the newspaper reported.
