ANC DEMANDS TAKING MEASURES TO ALLEVIATE CONSEQUENCES OF INTERNATIONAL
ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRISIS IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 15, NOYAN TAPAN. According to the Armenian National
Congress (ANC), the current international financial crisis requires
that adequate actions be taken which will allow to alleviate the
ruinous consequences of the crisis for Armenia’s financial market and
economy. However, as indicated in the October 15 statement of the ANC
Central Office, by its inaction and the absence of an adequate
response, the Armenian government only contributes to the depeening of
the crisis and shocks in the country.

The ANC demands that with the aim of alleviating the consequences of
the international economic and financial crisis in Armenia, the
following measures should be taken:

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) should announce a ban on construction
recrediting by the commercial banks, as well as announce a full-scale
reservation of such credits.

The Armenian government and CBA should announce that they will rule out
all the restrictions related to repayment of deposits, at least in the
case when the term of a deposit has expired.

The government and CBA should guarantee a 100% return of securities
issued by means of IPO by ArmRusgazprom and Valex Group companies. At
the same time, the issuing of new IPOs without the participation of the
Armenian government should be banned.

The Armenian government should urgently make changes in the tax system,
increasing considerably the collection of property tax from expensive
houses occupying large areas. The new rates of property tax should vary
by zones. In particular, property tax collected from elite apartments
in downtown Yerevan should be raised considerably. At the same time, a
raised tax should be introduced for incompleted apartment buildings and
big detached houses.

The Armenian government should announce abolition of the non-tariff
regulation of import which has been used in the past 10 years.

The CBA should remove all the restrictions on money transfers and lift
the bans used against some organizations.

The CBA should assume an obligation to keep, in the next 6 months, the
exchange rate of the Armenian drams within the limits that it together
with the government has established.

In the next 6 months, the government should keep under its control the
amounts of salaries of the high-ranking managers of the commercial
banks and the mining and smelting enterprises. It should also restrict
the opportunities of raising inappropriately the cost prices of
production in the indicated sectors.

Changes should be made in the RA state budget, by reducing by 20% the
budgets of the RA presidential staff, the RA National Assembly, the
ministries and departments of the RA government (except for the
ministries of education, health, science and defence), the prosecutor’s
office and courts.

The government should cancel the decisions on development of new areas
in connection with elite apartment construction. It should exclude the
possibility of new decisions of this kind in the next 6 months.