ArmInfo.Today in Armenia, about 42% of citizens are poor. This was announced on November 29 at a press conference by head of the "Alternative" research center Tatul Manaseryan.
He noted that the abysmal performance for this indicator belongs to the Shirak region, which accounts for 60% of the poor. In general, as the economist noted, almost every second citizen of the country belongs to the category of the poor. Meanwhile, Manaseryan continued, there is practically nothing about this in the draft state budget of the country, just as there are no points aimed at reducing the unemployment rate, aimed at creating competitive human capital. Moreover, the allocations for the education sector, provided for by the draft state budget of Armenia in 2023, are almost six times lower than the allocations for the needs of the Police. Young people prefer to study and work abroad, the outflow of the population, in turn, leads to an aging society.
The economist added that Armenia imports twice as much goods as it exports. Meanwhile, the appreciation of the is detrimental for exporters. With a cheap national currency, prices would be much more acceptable, and the country would not face a serious level of inflation. In fact, a citizen, receiving the same salary, can no longer purchase the same goods and services that he previously purchased. As a result, incomes fall and poverty rises. This fact, stressed the economist, is one of the paradoxes of the Armenian reality. At the same time, Manaseryan continued, a "strong" dram makes it possible to service external debt without any problems. <Previously, a similar policy was also carried out, which made it possible to reduce the volume of external debt. But the country had two shocks - the crises of 2009 and 2014>, the economist noted. Answering ArmInfo's question about the government's chronic incomplete fulfillment of capital expenditures included in the budget, Manaseryan agreed that an attempt is being made to restrain inflationary processes in this way. But, according to him, there is another problem, which is related to the directions of spending the available funds. After all, capital expenditures are an opportunity to create a good basis for the development of the country not only for the next year, but also for the future. <Do we have the patience to invest today for the sake of the future, 10-20 years from now? Kazakhstan, for example, by making capital expenditures, was able to ensure the proportional development of the whole country>, the economist emphasized, noting that the incomplete fulfillment of capital expenditures indicates a lack of professionalism.
