After the opposition rallies the Armenian authorities have tried to mitigate the current crisis in the socio-economic sphere. The government has defined a list of products to be subjected to a price control. The list includes 20 essentials products such as bread, milk, rice, beef, chicken, butter, cheese, eggs, potatoes, sugar, etc. According to the new regulations, if their price increases within 30 days by more than 30%, they will be subjected to an artificial price reduction. Meanwhile, even in the face of recent unprecedented increases in prices in Armenia, the highest increase in prices amounted to 13.1%.
It is obvious that the government's decisions mark an attempt to halt the rising social dissatisfaction. The recent meeting on economic policy, convened by President Serzh Sargsyan, which was attended by the Prime Minister and leaders of financial-economic bloc of the government should be regarded in the same context. At the meeting the president urged the ministers to work hard to make the results visible.
The recent actions undertaken by the government have caused far mixed reaction among the Armenian experts. Some experts and politicians are regarding the steps of the government as a real attempt to correct the situation and reduce the heat of social discontent, others say that Armenia is moving towards default.
According to economist Vahagn Khachatrian, if the authorities want to conduct economic reform, they need to change tactics and instead of enriching the oligarchs start enriching the ordinary citizens.
The chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Erik Berglof has expressed his concerns about the situation in Armenia. In his view, the main factors that slow the progress of reforms in Armenia are the corruption, lack of competition, the concentration of certain sectors of economy in the hands of oligarchic structures, as well as tax and customs administration.
Susanna Petrosyan, Yerevan. Exclusively for VK.
