FIGHTING THE CRISIS WITH CREDIT

A1+
06:41 pm | April 17, 2009

Society

More and more consumers are buying with credit during the past 3-4
months and the number of these consumers is growing along with the
financial-economic crisis.

"My husband and son are in Russia, but they haven’t sent any money in
the past four months. I need to feed my children and we barely make
ends meet," told "A1+" Marusya Stepanyan, 57, who does her shopping
with credit at a store on Kasyan Street.

The Kasyan store clerk Elya Muradyan says that the store has seen a
sharp increase in the number of consumers buying with credit. Whereas
in 2008 the yearly amount of credit for products was 50,000, today
consumers owe a total of 83,000 drams.

"Prices are going up, but at the same time people are being laid off. I
used to work in a leather-producing factory, but I lost my job due to
the financial crisis. Now I am forced to buy food with credit until
things get better," says Tigran Vasilyan.

"The crisis is growing deeper and people are forced to live on
credit. You can’t blame them. They usually pay off the debts, yet
there are those who are not able to give money and continue to pay
the debts late," says store owner Vilen Gabrielyan, who added that
consumers usually buy bread, cigarettes and other necessary items.

Other store owners in Yerevan said that they do not give out food by
credit because there is no guarantee that the buyer will "pay off"
the debt.