No second wave of crisis, but worse situation in Armenia
Former RA Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan doesn't expect the second wave of the crisis. "There is no second wave, but there is a stage of instability that can take up to 10-15 years, perhaps even 25," the former prime minister said during a press conference today.
According to him, the crisis can affect politics and become a reason for clashes, particularly political clashes between civilizations.
By saying clashes, Bagratyan means revolutions like the Arabs' revolution. In response to why there is no turbulence in Armenia, Bagratyan said people would see turbulence next year with the 5-6 percent inflation and no salary increase, meaning that people will be living 6 percent worse than they do now.
Hrant Bagratyan compared Armenia with Greece where the 2 percent economic downfall has led to instabilit, and said whereas the Greek suffer from each percentage, nobody in Armenia comes out to the streets after an inflation rise.
"The prime minister should at least keep silent. Who gave him the right to say that there is improvement? That's a lie. This is cynical. Ask Tigran Sargsyan who gave him the right to be cynical?" Bagratyan told journalists.
Bagratyan said he didn't like the current prime minister's assurances that Armenia has progressed according to a number of international indices. "It's a lie, cynicism. The index of competitiveness rose from 98th place to 92nd, but didn't it go from 74th to 98th three years ago? Back then (in 1996 when Hrant Bagratyan was RA Prime Minister-ed.) Armenia's opposition asked why Armenia should be guided by the main indicators of world economy when Armenia was in the 70th-75th places according to the human development, competitiveness and liberty indices. Now, Armenia ranks 120th and is the 140th country out of 183 countries based on the GDP indicator. Do they think you don't know this? The prime minister should keep silent. Who gave him the right to say there is improvement? It's a lie," Hrant Bagratyan said.
