FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS REACHED ARMENIA

A1+
[12:05 pm] 18 February, 2009

A1+’s recent survey shows that most Armenians have suffered from the
recent economic crisis which is deepening day by day.

"Sick people no longer see doctors. The number of patients keeps
falling down, and if they continue ignoring their health problems
they will surely die.

"I get a salary of 25 000 drams. Yesterday a woman came in a grave
state. She said she had no money to pay. What could I do? Shouldn’t I
help her?" says cardiologist Anita Mkhitaryan who works in a Yerevan
hospital.

"Only my father works in our family. During the past five years my
uncle living in Volgograd used to send us money. But it is three
months he has sent no penny, and we have appeared in a tight," says
23-year-old pedagogue Narine Hovsepyan.

Newsagent Tigran Bayatyan says his clients also began complaining
of the crisis which greatly affects his trade. "One of them used
to buy five newspapers a day. Today he buys only two. My friend
importing journals and magazines from Russia has reduced the import
by 50 percent.

I can no longer rent the newsstand. Sometimes I have to go to work
at the weekends. If once I earned 5000-6000 drams a day, now I get
3500 drams at the best," said Tigran.

36-year-old Vardan thinks the "so-called financial crisis" is
bluffing. "A labourer will always find a job. They delude people
saying there is a financial crisis worldwide. People are feared to
spend their money. This is a crisis," he says.