Monday, January 15 2018 12:55

ArmInfo. In connection with  the substantial increase in prices for certain types of goods in the  National Assembly of Armenia parliamentary hearings  session will be  held. This was stated  at the Parliament by Ara Babloyan, the  speaker.

According to the speaker, this  is based on the initiative of the RA  President. Ara Babloyan ordered the relevant parliamentary commission  on economic issues to organize and hold hearings with the  participation of representatives of state structures and public  organizations.

In this connection, the deputy from the opposition faction "Elk"  Edmond Marukyan pointed out the strangeness of the behavior of the  political power in the country in represented by  the Republican  Party, which suddenly became concerned with rising prices. What is to  nflation processes, the lawmaker continued, it was spoken over   throughout the year 2017. With the adoption of the new Tax Code,  experts, experts and parliamentarians warned of a future increase in  prices. 

"It was easy to predict the inflation if the excise tax on liquefied  gas from 8 thousand drams from January 1, 2018 was increased to 25  thousand drams, and the excise tax on diesel fuel and gasoline from  25 thousand drams was raised to 40 thousand drams, which led to the  domino effect In this context, the surprise of the ruling power is  not clear, "the MP stressed. He considered it inappropriate to hold  parliamentary hearings, urging an urgent amendment to the Tax Code. 

In any case, Edmond Marukyan urged the citizens of the country on  January 19 to take to the streets and express their attitude to the  actions of the authorities. "There is no other option, since  discussions in the current format have exhausted themselves," the MP  believes.  In turn, the head of the Elk faction Nikol Pashinyan,  referring to the official statistics, stressed that in 2017, serious  inflationary processes were observed in Armenia. 

In particular, the oil increased by 41%, pork by 38%, tomatoes by  31%, lamb by 28%, potatoes by 28%, fish by 23%, beef by 18% diesel  fuel - by 18%, gasoline - by 18%, etc. After the entry into force on  January 1, 2018 of the new Tax Code, inflation in Armenia started to  gather new momentum. As a result, according to the deputy, inflation  jumped to 20%. And at the same time, the National Statistical  Service, at least, halves the real rate of inflation. If we bear in  mind that from the middle of 2018 payments will begin to be made  within the framework of a mandatory funded pension, it becomes  obvious that the situation in the country will become even more  aggravated. In connection with the refusal of the authorities to  discuss the amendments to the country's legislation, Nikol Pashinyan  urged the citizens of the country to take an active part in the  planned on January 19, Charles Aznavour protest action, organized by  the faction "Elk".  Note that since January 1, 2018 in Armenia there  has been a significant increase in prices for a number of products,  including poultry, oil, gasoline, liquefied gas, spirits, eggs,  sugar, etc. In addition, in the near future, also expected to  increase the price of tobacco products. Earlier it was reported that  the rise in price was due to the increase in customs duties for more  than 800 types of goods. The rise in prices is mainly due to the fact  that from January 1, 2018 both the new RA Tax Code and the new  Customs Code of the EAEC came into force. This implies an increase in  customs duties on goods from countries that are not members of the  EAEC.  On January 10, President Serzh Sargsyan held a meeting to  discuss raising the prices of certain types of goods and working out  solutions aimed at mitigating the consequences of this. The  government is instructed to make a list of socially important goods,  to continuously study the dynamics of prices for these goods, to  provide objective and subjective factors that determine price  changes, assess the risks of their appreciation and propose measures  to mitigate the impact of rising prices. The results are regularly  presented to the public. It is also instructed to propose options for  mitigating the effects of price increases on those socially important  goods that have risen in price as a result of tax or other  legislative changes. First of all, for the socially important  agricultural products, a program of integrated measures for the  development of local production and replacement of imported goods  will be developed and presented, which will make it possible to  provide an affordable level of prices while encouraging local  production.  According to the National Statistical Service of  Armenia, nominal wages in Armenia accelerated growth rates from 2% in  January-November 2016 to 2.6% in January-November 2017, amounting to  189631 drams ($ 393). Wages in the public sector in January-November  2017. amounted to 159 270 drams ($ 330), unchanged over the year,  against the deterioration of the dynamics a year earlier - from 9.7%  growth to 1.2% decline. At the same time, the growth rates of wages  in the private sector continue to slow down to 3.6% from last year's  4.4%, to 225 966 AMD ($ 468).  For the consumer market of Armenia in   2017 was inflationary - 2.6%, after two years of deflation - 1.1% in  2016 and 0.1% in 2015. This was mostly caused by an increase in  prices of food products (including alcohol and cigarettes) by 5.3%  and non-food products by 1.7%, while tariffs for services decreased  by 0.5%. The average monthly increase in consumer prices in  January-December 2017 was 0.2%, against a decline of 0.1% a year  earlier.