Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

The velvet revolution will soon hit a year, but the problems of Armenia have not gone away.

Prime Minister of Armenia, Nikol Pashinyan complained that despite the political changes in Armenia, there was little activity in the country's economic life, although there were high expectations.

He made this statement at a meeting with Armenian businessmen representing diaspora and urged them to invest more actively in the Armenian economy, as well as to involve businessmen from the countries in which they live.

This shows that Pashinyan either does not understand what is happening or pretends that he does not understand. Political changes do not mean that activity in economic life will also increase as it happens, this requires prerequisites.

The key question remains unanswered: can Pashinyan and his team manage Armenia? Can his team pursue a balanced foreign policy? Where are large-scale projects in the economic field and social transformations that are badly needed? Where will Pashinyan find a large number of new jobs in order to reduce unemployment and stop the massive outflow of the working-age population from the republic? Is his team able to prepare and carry out a program of complex transformations in Armenia, having small financial resources and a constantly growing external debt?

The price of Russian gas at the border of Armenia has increased from January 1, 2019, and now Armenia is paying $ 165 per 1,000 cubic meters instead of the previous $150.

Although Pashinyan tried to assure the Armenian society that the gas tariff for consumers will not increase and remain at the current point of 137 drams per cubic meter ($0.28), only few people believed it.

Therefore, in the months to come tariffs for "blue fuel" may increase, thus hurting the budget of most of the population of Armenia. As many as 120,000 families who are registered in the Social Security Service database of the Ministry of Labor as low income people, suffer the most from it.

Obviously, in such a situation the government will not be able to keep the gas price for the end user at the current level for a long time. There is no such money in the Armenian budget, and therefore, sooner or later, the tariff will have to be increased.

Pashinyan understands that dissatisfaction in Armenian society is growing every day. Armenians want to consume more right now, and not in a ghostly future. Armenian authorities have neither the understanding of this problem nor the desire to solve it.

One of the main challenges facing the Armenian economy is the lack of foreign investment. There are no investments and there will not be, because Armenia is a dead end and a vassal country that does not have any resource for development due to its isolation by the conflict with Azerbaijan.

In Armenia, the agrarian sector continues to degrade. Agriculture in the country remained at the 4th-century level. In many regions and villages of Armenia, there is not even an elementary irrigation system.

As long as the actors in the Armenian political field do not understand that aggression against neighboring countries is the reason that the country is stuck in its development, nothing will change and the people will always remain to stand guilty.

Normal life for the Armenian citizens depends only on the Karabakh conflict resolution, and Pashinyan needs to begin implementing the list of his promises from this statement.

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

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