PRIME MINISTER: ARMENIA TO RECORD 7% INFLATION IN 2010

ARKA
Apr 1, 2010

YEREVAN, April 1. /ARKA/. Armenia will record seven-percent inflation
in 2010, Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said Thursday at a
regular meeting of cabinet ministers.

He said that one percent of this inflation rate will be created by
direct and indirect impacts of gas price rise.

Natural gas price for Armenia’s consumers will be raised 37.5% to
AMD 132 on April 1, 2010, from present AMD 96 per one cubic meter.

Those consumers using more than 10,000 cubic meters of gas monthly
will pay $243.13 per each 1,000 cubic meters instead of $215 presently.

Sargsyan said that direct impact will add 0.5% and indirect 0.9%
to the 2010 inflation.

He finds it wrong to subsidize gas prices.

In his opinion, this is not the best way to solve social problems
and curb inflation.

The premier even thinks this is the worst way, considering poverty
reduction strategy.

Instead, he hailed subsidies for the poor and said that the
president-ordered 15-percent increase of social benefits for 110,000
families would neutralize negative impacts of the gas price rise.

Besides, senior people will have their pensions increased by 11%
in November.

Calculations show that these steps will contribute to poverty reduction
in Armenia.

Sargsyan stressed that gas price rise will have a soft impact on
family budgets, since gas consumption lessens in this season.