ArmInfo. In post-revolutionary Armenia, people began to live worse. This is the opinion of former Prime Minister of Armenia, economist Hrant Bagratyan.
"The economic downturn in the first quarter of this year compared to 2020 continued - up to 2%," Bagratyan wrote on his Facebook page, referring to the data published by the Statistical Committee. At the same time, the expert recalled that 2020 was a lockdown and the economic recession compared to 2019 was 7.8%.
As Bagratyan noted, the decline in the Armenian economy was one of the highest in the world. So, according to him, the average economic decline in the CIS countries was 3%, in particular, in Azerbaijan the indicator was 4.3%, in Belarus - 0.9%, in Kazakhstan - 2.6%, in the Russian Federation - 3,1%, in Georgia - 6.2%. Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan recorded positive growth. The US economy decreased by 3.5%, Japan - 4.9%, the eurozone countries recorded a 6.6% decline, developing countries - 5%, and the world average was 3.9%. "If the economic" miracles "of this government continue, then in a couple of years, in terms of economic growth, we will find ourselves in the last ranks among the CIS countries, leaving Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan ahead," he said. In this regard, the former prime minister urged not to believe the promises of the Minister of Economy about double-digit growth at the end of 2021.
According to Bagratyan, the analysis of certain macroeconomic indicators is of interest. He noted that economic growth was recorded in the production of the mining industry, mining and non-metallic products. A slight nominal growth was recorded in the export sector, and that, in his opinion, was due to the increased prices for copper. "During the reign of the current government, as the expert noted, the uncontrolled robbery of mines crossed all imaginary boundaries," he said.
In particular, in the context of a significant increase in copper prices, manifestations of plunder and corruption deepened. "In the first quarter of this year, tax revenues to the budget decreased - to 333 billion drams against 349 billion drams in 2020, state revenues decreased from 370 billion drams to 349 billion drams. At the same time, as the expert pointed out, an absolute 6% reduction in budget revenues happened in the conditions of 5.2% inflation. "It turns out that the real income of the state treasury in the first quarter decreased by 11.2%. At the same time, the actual revenues of the state budget in 2020 were lower than the expectations laid down by the parliament by 8%. And this is taking into account the funds attracted from the All-Armenian Fund in an illegal way, "he said.
"Tax revenues to the budget in 2020 were underfulfilled by more than 13%," he wrote. As a result, people began to live worse - only in the first quarter of 2021, the standard of living of citizens (real income) fell by 3.1% (prices increased by 5.2%, income by only 3.1%). For the disadvantaged strata of the population, the indicator fell by 5.1%. As a result, the indicator of the extremely poor population of the Republic of Armenia increased from 1.4% before the revolution to 2.3%, and the number of the poor increased by 5.5% - to 29%. "The authorities think that poor people vote more correctly. In my opinion, the policy of the authorities is to rob and oppress as much as they can, but constantly talk about the robbery of the former authorities," Hrant Bagratyan concluded.
To recall, yesterday, in an interview with RFE/RL's Armenian Service, acting Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan assured that people in Armenia began to live better. He confirmed his words by the fact that in the evening in Yerevan, in particular in the city center, it is impossible to book a table in a restaurant.
