Armenian PM: Unfounded price rises are inadmissible

At the government session today Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan spoke about the unfounded rises in essential goods prices.  He instructed Chairman of the State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC) Artak Shaboyan to submit daily information about prices.

“Serious increases in prices of some goods, including sugar and flour, were recorded yesterday. Unfounded price rises are inadmissible to us,” the prime minister said.

He urged the commission chairman to take a serious approach to such abuses.

It should be noted that strict control is indeed required over the situation in commodity markets. The SPEC is unable to deal with the situation on its own, especially as it has no powers over some markets. The matter concerns in particular gas filling stations which raised gas prices about a week ago, explaining it by the dollar’s appreciation.

The dollar rate started to fall rapidly in Armenia’s currency market today after it appreciated for several days. On December 17 the dollar rate was 600 drams, while on the afternoon of December 18 the rate fell to 450-500 drams. The difference between the dollar’s sale and purchase prices remains quite large (in some cases, 50-60 drams) at currency exchange offices.

Following the tumultuous events in the past few days, the currency market reacted rapidly to yesterday’s events: the Armenian government issued a statement, followed by a statement of the Central Bank of Armenia. Later, in the evening the Armenian parlaiment called a special sitting to discuss the situation on the financial market of Armenia.