Azernews.Az

In a strongly-worded statement, Kocharian responded to Ter-Petrosian's utterances that the country's economy had fallen into a predicament. He said remarks concerning economic development should be made "only by people well-versed on the matter".
"What is disappointing is that Ter-Petrosian is coming to big politics with wrath," the head of state said, adding that this very anger had caused the former leader's Armenian Nationwide Movement to break up during his tenure.
"The gist of his statement is that everything used to be fine, and now it is not. But I believe that the people still remember how bad life really was then," Kocharian said.
The president advised Ter-Petrosian to compare the legacy of his presidency with the current state of things in an unbiased manner.
He recalled that the mentioned movement came to power in August 1990, a year before Soviet collapse, saying the country's development staggered after that.
"Armenia was among the USSR's most developed republics at the time, which was distinguished by very advanced agriculture. But just three to four years later, it turned into one of the most impoverished countries in the world. True, there had to be some losses after the Soviet Union's break-up. I estimate them at between 15-20%. But afterwards this had to be offset through investment programs. For instance, this happened in the Baltic states, Belarus and in the Ukraine to some extent. But in Armenia, the economy had been completely destroyed in those years."
Kocharian said Ter-Petrosian's movement "received the country in normal condition but left it to him in economically dilapidated state" when it stepped down in 1998.
"International groups have included us in the list of the world's poorest nations as well. But today, we can draw a comparison with 1997. Our budget is now more than three times over the Gross Domestic Product of that time," he added.
Ter-Petrosian castigated Kocharian's team at a recent rally in Yerevan joined by thousands of supporters. He said incumbent government wallows in corruption and that a small group of people in the authorities has secured its thriving life "by stealing the people blind".