Mantashyants Entrepreneurs Union: Officials sacrifice long-term  development and growth for the sake of short-term benefits

ArmInfo.Due to the revaluation of the national currency in Armenia, the exporters of agricultural products, beverages, as well as the tourism sector, the IT sector and  developers suffered the most. Chairman of the Mantashyants  Entrepreneurs Union  Vahram Mirakyan wrote about this on his Facebook  page.

In particular, speaking about agricultural products, he stressed that  previously the cost of tomatoes or eggplants purchased from farmers  for canned food export was conditionally 500 drams, and it was sold  at the export markets at a cost of $1.2, but now the price has  remained the same, but the export cost has increased to $1.4.

Consequently, according to the entrepreneur, the Armenian exporter is  forced to raise prices, but under the created conditions, an exporter  more resistant to the dollar, for example from Azerbaijan, takes  advantage of the situation, forcing the Armenian exporter out of the  market.

As Mirakyan noted, a similar situation is observed in the beverage  export market, which is the country's most important export area.  "For example, an enterprise exporting wine exported products worth  $100,000, of which 10% is its profit. The entrepreneur will receive  money for the exported wine, but with a loss of 10%. At the same  time, he must pay income tax to the state, since, according to the  documentation, he has a profit of 10%. This is such an absurd  situation," he stressed.

At the same time, Mirakyan pointed to the decrease in the  competitiveness of the Armenian tourism industry due to the current  situation. As an example, he noted that the conditional cost of a  tour package is $1,000, but it will rise to $1,200, which will make  tourists think longer about whether it is worth organizing their  vacation in Armenia. Speaking about developers, the head of the Union  stressed that prices in the srctore are fixed by the ratio of the  dollar to the dram. Now, according to him, due to the change in the  ratio, developers will either start raising prices or suffer losses.

As Mirakyan noted, the IT sector will also lose its price competitive  advantage. If earlier the company received about $100,000 from abroad  per month and paid the salaries of 20 programmers, then with the  situation with the exchange rate, these funds can be spent on the  salaries of 18 employees. In the same logic, Mirakyan pointed out the  difficulties in the investment sector.

Summing up, the head of the Union emphasized that due to the dram's  revaluation, the sectors that  create added value and bring money to  the country mainly suffer.

 At the same time, he drew attention to the fact that from the  current situation will benefit importers who take finance out of the  country, developing the economies of Turkey, China or the Russian  Federation.

At the same time, the head of the Union stressed that the financial  authorities of the country would benefit.  They are afraid of  incurring reputational damage due to inflation, because to stop the  dram's revaluation, , it will be necessary to buy the currency, which  in turn will spur inflation. "In short, officials are sacrificing  long-term development and growth to give the impression of short-term  gain," he concluded.

A day earlier, Armenian Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan,  commenting on the situation with the dram's revaluation, stressed  that monetary policy should contribute to the country's economic  growth, helping exporters of the manufacturing industry and the IT  sector that provides services. In this regard, he stressed that  exporters and the IT sector are concerned about the dram's  revaluation (on average by 18% per annum by June 9 this year - Ed.)  and in these conditions the Central Bank should start using new  tools.

"We understand their concerns about inflation, but we think that now  everything needs to be done in such a way that important branches of  the economy do not suffer," Kerobyan noted, stressing that the  Regulator has the tools to ensure a more balanced exchange rate.