ARMENIAN PRIME MINISTER PREDICTS LOW INFLATION RATE FOR 2009
/ARKA/
August 6, 2009
Yerevan
Armenian prime minister Tigran Sargsyan predicted Wednesday a ‘rather
low inflation rate’ for 2009.
‘Naturally, as long as the economy is not out of the recession yet
the government’s priorities will be to ensure economic growth and
financial stability and only then to focus on curbing inflation, ‘
the prime minister said during a working visit to Vayots Dzor province.
The head of the government praised the Central Bank for lowering the
benchmark interest rate, which he said is in tune with the government’s
plan of actions to mitigate the fallout from the crisis. He stressed
that the Armenian economy is free now from inflation pressures.
‘The inflation rate fell three times against the past year. The
inflation rate in the first seven months of 2088 against the same
time span of 2007 rose to 10.5%, but it fell to 3.5% for the first
seven months of 2009,’ he said.
The prime minister said having in view that 1.5% of the inflation is
accounted for by price hikes of natural gas, petrol, power and public
utilities, the conclusion is that the inflation environment for this
year is favorable.