Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

For many years, both the former and current authorities of Armenia were trying to convince the society that the country is allegedly moving forward at a fairly good pace. However, this is not the reality.

If we look closely at the nuances in statistical reports, it becomes clear that the Armenian government simply distorts the facts when it boasts with allegedly positive indicators of economy.

Recently, presenting the latest statistical data, Pashinyan opted to cite comparative data of July of the current year to July 2018. This kind of comparison distorts the real situation.

There would be a much more objective picture if he compared not July 2019 with July 2018, but January-July 2019 with January-July 2018. However, Pashinyan continues to selectively present only indicators that are suitable for him. The reason is that comparing July 2019 with July 2018 gives much more impressive indicators than the comparison of the first seven months of 2019 to the same period last year.

The largest drop in this regard was recorded in cargo volumes. For the first half of 2019, the indicator collapsed by 57.5 percent in relation to the same period of 2018. The question arises, why Pashinyan’s "impressive" results do not match with this data?

If to take the export indicators, then the ratio of January-July 2019 to the same period of previous year shows a decrease of 16.5 percent. Therefore, Pashinyan avoids the statistics from the beginning of this year.

For some reason, the Armenian PM did not mention electricity production, which is one of the most important indicators of the state of the country's economy. This is because compared to last year's statistics, electricity generation in Armenia fell by 5 percent.

The indicator for the gross agricultural output in the first half of 2019 is also negative – a decrease of 7.4 percent year-on-year.

Pashinyan also did not touch on the topic of a chronic decline in the construction volumes, which in July 2019 fell by 17.6 percent compared to the beginning of the year. So, instead of the construction boom promised by the Armenian authorities, the country is in fact experiencing an acute crisis in the construction sector.

Armenian Economy Minister Tigran Khachatryan is also not far behind his boss. In an interview with an Armenian TV channel, Khachatryan said that the jewelry industry allegedly hiked as much as by 30 percent in the first half of the year, although in reality it fell by 31.8 percent compared to the same period of 2018.

Later, during a meeting with Armenian diplomats, he made a sad confession about the objective state of the Armenian economy.

“Today Armenia’s per capita income is about 15 times less compared to the leading countries. Armenia’s productivity is eight times lower than in any average European country, our productivity is at least two times lower than in the EAEU states. In almost all areas, the economy is in a similar state," Khachatryan said, urging diplomats to search for investments abroad.

Thus, all of the above says that Pashinyan lives in a parallel universe, enjoying paradise, against the background of the rapidly depressing basic indicators of real Armenia.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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