Azernews.Az

By Rashid Shirinov

The economic and social situation in Armenia continues to remain terrible and deteriorates every year. The poor South Caucasus nation faces a bunch of problems – inflation, unemployment, corruption, poverty, weak economy, low foreign investment, falling exports and many others. This, naturally, has a major negative impact on the well-being of Armenia's population.

However, Prime Minister of Armenia Karen Karapetyan has recently held a press conference where he said that there was allegedly an increase in the welfare growth of people in Armenia over the past year.

The minister referred to the results of sociological surveys, but he did not name the organizations that carried out this survey, so his statement sounded like just empty words with no proof.

This statement puzzled Armenian economists and experts, as since Karapetyan took office last fall, there has been no increase in pensions and salaries, and given the draft budget for next year, the government does not plan to do it next year too.

Meanwhile, the prices of essential goods in Armenia have kept steadily growing in the last months, thus aggravating the situation of many Armenian families. Another blow for them is that next year more than 5,500 people working in the state system will become unemployed as the government will reduce workplaces.

The National Statistical Service of Armenia also contradicts the inexplicably positive statement of Karapetyan. Its data shows that during the year of his premiership, the pace of population decline has accelerated – the population has reduced by 14,300 compared to October 1, 2016. If the welfare of Armenia’s population would grow, these people, obviously, would not leave the country.

Armenians remember their Prime Minister’s big promises when he took office a year ago. They included the fight against poverty, unemployment, corruption in the country, and many other problems. However, as vast majority of Armenian officials do, Karapetyan has not yet fulfilled his promises. Therefore, the attitude of Armenians towards the Prime Minister rightly worsens with every deceitful populist speech he makes.

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Rashid Shirinov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @RashidShirinov

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