Azernews.Az

By Jamila Babayeva

The complicated socio-economic situation in Armenia has reached its logical end as Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan resigned on April 3.

Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Eduard Sharmazanov said the ruling Republican Party accepted Sargsyan's resignation.

"Sargsyan handed over his resignation letter to the president a month ago, but the president asked him to stay in office to handle affairs related to reform programs in the Constitutional Court," he noted.

His resignation was quite expected amid tough socio-economic situation in the country, which saw decline almost on all macroeconomic parameters in recent years.

Four opposition parliament fractions were planning to withdraw their vote of confidence to the government on April 28, 2014. The issue was expected to be put to a vote on April 30.

The fractions also planned to hold twenty-four-hour rallies on April 28-30 with an intention to gain support for their initiative throughout the country.

During Sargsyan's tenure since 2008, Armenia's major macroeconomic indicators deteriorated year by year. Sargsyan's government was not able to solve problems related to the living conditions of citizens and to stop migration outflows, which has reached to a catastrophic level recently.

Sargsyan's government achieved a 3.5 percent economic growth. This came as in its strategic development program for 2013 it had predicted a 6.3 percent growth.

Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to the country in 2013 decreased by 35.3 percent compared to 2012, reaching about $4.7 million.

FDI in 2013 was the lowest during Sargsyan's tenure. These figures were not recorded even during the global financial crisis in 2009, when the volume of investments in Armenia decreased by 25.8 percent.

Furthermore, high unemployment and poverty level remained a challenge during Sargsyan's six-year term in government.

High unemployment rate estimated at 16.8 percent in 2013, while the poverty rate in the country climbed from 17.4 percent in 2008 to 32.4 percent in 2012. "Every third resident of the country - 32.4 percent of the population (980,000 people) - lived in poverty in 2012," official statistics show.

The opposition congratulated the Armenian people on Sargsyan's resignation. They believe that it is only the first step towards to achieve significant qualitative changes in the lives of Armenia's citizens.

The opposition also believes that the resignation will hardly change the situation in the country.

"Armenia needs a qualitatively new government that will be able to solve the serious problems facing the country," they urged.

President Serzh Sargsyan will appoint the new PM in the next ten days. Afterwards, the new PM is supposed to form the new cabinet within 20 days.

Indeed, it is a matter of time whether the new PM will be able to implement effective reforms to save the country. What is clear now is that the new government's mission will be the most challenging, as it will have to save a country which has been left on the verge of the social-economic collapse.