Chshmarityan: Businessmen should understand changes correctly

Following the government session today Economy Minister Karen Chshmarityan commented on the requirement that Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan presented to the country’s big businessmen yesterday.

Hovik Abrahamyan said at the government session today that new rules of game have been established: everyone should work on equal terms, no one can operate in the shadow economy. “If businessmen fail to do it on their own, we will use our levers to solve the problems facing us,” the prime minister said.

When asked if big businessmen will fulfill the prime minister’s requirement and accept the new ‘rules of game’, the minister replied: “I think that they are patriots, and being concerned about further development of the Armenian economy, they should correctly understand the changes from the economic and legal points of view”.

According to K. Chshmarityan, it is necessary to establish new economic relations. The reduction of the shadow sector, regulation of relations between big and small businesses, and implementation of the government’s socioeconomic program depend on whether everyone will accept the rules of game, the minister said.

Asked whether any rules of game existed so far, the minister of economy said: “They existed, but were not sufficient”.