REPRESENTATIVE OF HERITAGE PARTY: POVERTY IN ARMENIA IS OVERCOME NOT REALLY, BUT ONLY QUANTITATIVELY

arminfo
2007-08-28 16:50:00

"Over the past few years within the framework of the governmental
program on poverty reduction, poverty in Armenia is overcome not
really, but only quantitatively, which is not correlated with price
increase", Larisa Alaverdyan, an Armenian MP from the opposition
Heritage Party, the first Ombudsman of Armenia, said at the View
club, Tuesday.

According to her, the governmental program on poverty reduction should
be drastically reconsidered, as it fails to reflect the desires of the
society and specialists, which were expressed at the first stage of
the document’s elaboration. "Initially, we, as members of the working
group, suggested proceeding from no less than 10% conventional
economic growth, however, the government settled upon 7%. Thus,
under the conditions of 10-12% indicator, which is currently being
officially declared, artificially overevaluated indices of poverty
reduction are published," L.Alaverdyan said.

The MP also pointed out that the new version of the program on
poverty reduction should distinctly stipulate specific steps aimed at
radical change of the situation in villages, as the current version
provides for rapid poverty reduction only in cities, first of all,
in Yerevan. According to Larisa Alaverdyan, another serious problem
is the failure of fight against corruption.