"Strengthening Serzh Sargsyan's bases"
"Ninety percent of the current issues facing Armenia's economy have been accumulated as a result of the economic policies in the past decade," former president of the RA Central Bank, economist Bagrat Asatryan told "A1+" today regarding Kocharyan's recent analysis of Armenia's economy.
According to Asatryan, the world could not have had such a serious impact on Armenia because "Armenia is small, can't be seen on the map and the financial-economic crisis couldn't see Armenia that well either."
Asatryan says something else is at the core of Kocharyan's statements. "Kocharyan is trying to pass political rehabilitation. Nevertheless, Armenian society associates Kocharyan with the massacres of March 1."
According to Asatryan, there will be more sharp evaluations on the economy and social policies, "and will create the impression that there are different views on today's authorities."
Upon the request of "A1+", Bagrat Asatryan also touched upon the appropriateness of including enormous amounts of credit for overcoming the crisis.
«Ես կարծում եմ, որ անցած տարի այդ փողի անզուսպ պահանջը, որ դրսեւորեց մեր իշխանությունը, ի չարս է գնալու: Ոչ այնքան դրական, որքան բացասական հետեւանքներ է ունենալու մեր տնտեսության վրա, որովհետեւ փողը այդպես էլ չծախսվեց, կամ արդյունավետ չծախսվեց. եթե փողը բերում էին բյուջետային ճեղքերը փակելու համար, դա մեզ պետք չէր, եթե բերում էին միայն արտասահմանից եւ բավականին բարձր տոկոսներով դա մեզ պետք չէր»,-հայտարարեց ԿԲ նախկին նախագահը:
"I think the authorities' unrestricted demand for money last year will lead to bad things. It will have a negative impact on Armenia's economy because the money was not spent, or it wasn't spent efficiently. We didn't need them to use the money for closing the budget gaps, if they were bringing it only from abroad and with rather high interest rates," said the former CB president.
He announced that there is an "escape of dram volume" and brought up figures.
Whereas the prepaid dram was 344 billion drams in December 2008, in 2009 it was 320 billion drams and according to data from March 25, 2010, it was 274 billion drams. In other words, within three months there has been a reduction of 45 billion drams.
According to Bagrat Asatryan, "the wealthy are the officials and their families" who prefer not to make investments in Armenia, but abroad like in Georgia where conditions are more favorable.
Bagrat Asatryan also focused not only on devaluation of the dram, but deprivation of fame. Today deposits and investments are given in dollars. In the past year, the volume of credit investments has increased from 38 percent to 51 percent, while deposits in drams have gone down from 46 percent to 25 percent.
As far as the core of all issues, Bagrat Asatryan says there is no clear-cut economic policy, everything is leading to the destruction of economy and statehood, everything is personalized and the government is involved in strengthening the bases for Serzh Sargsyan".
