Armenia faces sharp rise in consumer prices amid growing poverty
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
According to the date published by the Armenian Statistical Committee, almost a quarter of Armenian population live in poverty, especially those in rural areas.
In its report titled "Consumer Price Index in the Republic of Armenia in January-December 2019" and "Social Snapshot and Poverty in Armenia", the committee highlighted the importance of lowering food prices given the poverty in the country.
It should be noted that the new Armenian government during 2019 was not able to provide an increase in gross agricultural output in relation to 2018. That is, in 2019, the country produced significantly less agricultural products than in 2018. Rapidly losing its own agricultural products, Armenia is forced to import more and more products, which is direct evidence of the complete failure of the Armenian state policy in the field of agriculture.
If we consider the prices of specific products, it is possible to see the rapid rise in fruit prices. In 2019, prices for bananas went up by 9.2 percent, persimmon - 2.2 percent, oranges - 12.7 percent, tangerines - 14.6 percent, lemons - 27.8 percent, compared to 2018.
There is also a rise in price of local products and non-alcoholic beverages, inflation for which in January-December 2019 amounted to almost 2 percent compared to the same period of 2018, and 4.8 percent in comparison with 2015.
The situation with vegetables is even worse, while prices rising by almost 6 percent (December 2019 to December 2018), and by 20 percent (November 2019 to December 2018).
If Armenian authorities had regulated prices and applied methods to encourage the development of local agricultural products, then local mass production could restrain price increases. However, in the current situation, prices rise in price even against the background of mass import of foreign-made food products into the country.
In particular, price for green onions rose by 58.2 percent, a bunch of blended green (+44.2 percent), tomatoes (+11.1 percent), eggplants (+5.3 percent), carrots (+27 percent), beets (+17.3 percent), onions (+6.6 percent), etc. Price for bakery products and cereals went up by almost 4 percent.
Considering that fruits and vegetables occupy a very significant share of more than nine percent in the consumer basket of the Armenian population, the influence of prices in these product groups on overall inflation is quite large.
Thus, despite the promises of the post-revolutionary Armenian authorities about a good life, the social economic situation of the population is only getting more complicated.
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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94
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