Prices continue going up
Food prices have hooked up in Armenia for the past few days. For instance, the price of butter has gone up by 20-50 drams. If previously you could buy a packet of Аnchor butter at 400 AMD, today it costs 450 AMD. A kilo of sugar costs 330 drams instead of the previous 300 and a kilo of basturma costs 4400 drams instead of former 3700.
"My husband is a pensioner and gets 13 000 drams a month. I am unemployed and we cannot live on the money he receives. Prices keep increasing whereas pensions remain the same," said Yerevan citizen Elya.
"Everyone speaks of a drop in prices if they ever go down. But no one cares when prices go up. Butter has become a pleasure we cannot afford today not to mention the price of oil. They can tie us with a rope and say "That's enough. You can die!" complained Yerevan citizen Margaret.
Note that the price of medicine also increases in Armenian pharmacies. A1+ tried to find out whether the rise in prices is seasonal or is determined by some other factor.
"I wouldn't rule out either of them. Let's not forget about the dollar-dram fluctuations either since the dram is depreciating every day," former RA Minister of Finance Levon Barkhudarian told A1+. "If Armenia had a favorable competitive atmosphere prices wouldn't go up today."
