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Armenians in no mood for New Year

26 December 2014 17:24 (UTC+04:00)
Armenians in no mood for New Year

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

Many Armenians are not in their pink to celebrate the New Year in high spirits, revealed 1in.am, a local media outlet in Yerevan.

According to a survey by 1in.am, poor financial condition and fear of applying for bank loans are the main reasons behind the reluctance of many Armenians to sit around a holiday table and sing the Happy New Year song. They see it a mission impossible to pay off their loans.

One of the Yerevan residents said she and her husband were pensioners being deprived of state care. She said they had no hope to feel the New Year delight, since they live on a $87 monthly pension.

"I can barely pass a month with $150 income. As a pensioner, I'm not going to celebrate the holiday with a bank loan, it's beyond a pensioner's pocket. Monthly expense of utilities stand at $87, which is equal to my monthly pension," another resident complained.

Meanwhile, there are also residents who depend on bank loans to mark the New Year.

"Only for shopping I need $1,000, which I don't have in my pocket now. So, I have to either borrow money, or apply for a bank loan," said one of the residents, adding that a bank loan is the best way to give her family a chance to mark the New Year.

The media reports have recently said Samvel Alexanian, Member of Parliament and a well-known oligarch, announced a debt purchase campaign in his supermarket chains prior to the New Year.

One of the Yerevan's largest supermarkets "Yerevan city" is owned by Alexanian.

A pensioner lamented on hard social life in Armenia saying: "What a pensioner can put on the New Year table. We cannot even pay the price of basic things in our daily life. Most of us are jobless. Which New Year celebration you are talking about?"

Armenia is currently facing a financial trouble characterized by a sharp devaluation of its national currency the dram against the foreign currencies, dollar and euro in particular.

The decreasing value of dram has ignited a high rate inflation and price hike in Armenia's domestic markets.

There is a nearly 20 percent increase in the prices of nutritional products, including bread, diary products, meat etc, according to the local media.

Even Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan's "unexpected" visits to Yerevan's supermarkets did not affect the increased prices. Meanwhile the monopolistic system in Armenia is controlling the ups and downs in the prices of foodstuff.

The executive power of Yerevan city spares no money to install the largest New Year tree in the city's central square.

Zoghovurd, a local newspaper, revealed that the city management has spent approximately $44,000 to bring a New Year atmosphere to the city with an illuminated holiday tree.

In addition, several banks in Armenia have ceased to formalize the sale of goods on purchasing loans, according tho Zhamanak, a local newspaper.

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