RA PRIME MINISTER: RA GOVERNMENT INTENDS TO ACTUATE ADMINISTRATIVE LEVERS TO RESTRAIN INFLATION

arminfo
2008-05-29 15:16:00

ArmInfo. RA government intends to actuate administrative levers to
restrain inflation, as solution of this problem is a problem number
one in the republic, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan said at
today’s government session.

As he said, the Gallup polls have shown that the society is most of
all concerned over the price rise in Armenia today. The premier said
that the government is not satisfied with the degree of elasticity
of prices as their rise happens rapidly and sufficiently while the
cut in prices – slowly.

Unfortunately, the premier said, the government do not succeed to
restrain inflation without administrative levers.

He paid the governmental members’ attention to the fact that
a sharp fall in prices for bread, cereal products and rice has
been fixed in the international markets. In particular, the grain
prices during the last month dropped by 42% and for rice – by 22%,
that created favourable conditions for the tendency of reduction
for these foodstuffs in Armenia, which have a high specific weight
in the consumer basket, T. Sarkisyan said. The premier charged the
Economy and finance Ministry, as well as the Central Bank and the
Commission for Protection of Economic Competition to submit proposals
for control of inflation. "The problem of prices is in the center
of the government’s attention and, first of all, we shall carry out
inspections in the organizations, where the rise in prices is not
adequate to the world tendencies", the premier said.

To recall, according to the data of the National Statistical Service
of Armenia, inflation in Armenia in April, as compared with March,
made up 1,1%, over Jan-Apr – 6%. The annual inflation indicator has
been fixed by the budget 2008 at 4% level with deviations at the rate
of 1,5%,,however, the experts forecast to 10%.