ARMENIAN PREMIER: RAISING OF GAS, ELECTRIC POWER AND WATER TARIFFS TO LEAD TO GROWTH OF EXPENDITURE OF POPULATION BY 2 THSD DRAMS AT AN AVERAGE
ArmInfo
2009-03-05 13:04:00
ArmInfo. Raising of gas, electric power and water tariffs will lead
to growth of expenditure of population by 2 thsd drams at an average,
Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sarkisyan said in an interview with
Armenian Public TV.
He also added that when drawing out the draft budget 2009 they were
taking into account the circumstance that beginning from 1 April
tariffs for these services will grow, for this reason pensions
growing by 14% was scheduled. This will make it possible to mellow
consequences of the expected growth of tariffs a little. It is also
important that an arrangement was made with the strategic partner of
Armenia about raising of tariffs beginning from the second quarter
2009. This means to minimize possible negative consequences for the
budget of Armenian families, as the weather will be warm at that period
of time and the volumes of gas usage in April cannot be compared with
the volumes used in January-February. ‘Taking this factor into account
and raising pensions we are trying to neutralize this problem’, –
the premier said and added that financial and economic crisis will
undoubtedly affect socially unprotected layers of population.
Reduction of transfers by 20% in January also promotes this
affect. This means that the policy of the government of the country
should be of the social nature and be directed to resolving of problems
of about 118 thsd socially unprotected families.