Today at the Standing Committees of the National Assembly, Gevorg Petrosyan, a member of the Tsarukyan Alliance, addressed the Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan at the discussion of the RA draft law on State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018: “Mr. Minister, I attentively look at these graphics, beautiful pictures: round, octagon, oval, and so on, but believe me, the people are tired of these illustrated pictures. I, as a representative of the political force, chosen by the people, want to make a specific question and expect a concrete answer, without maneuver, do you claim that this project will affect the people’s standard of living in a visible and reasonable time-frame?”
Vardan Aramyan answered: “I treat you with great respect and I am of great opinion of you, but I want to say that we never try to maneuver it, it is the most dangerous thing that one could do, we are trying to present to the public the right impressions on where we stand and where we should go. It is very hard. We constantly say that we will not touch social spending as we have a problem. If you tell me what you mean by saying life quality changing and with which tool you measure it, then I’ll tell you whether we give a guarantee or not.”
Gevorg Petrosyan said that he had meant the neutralization of existing threats: poverty eradication, emigration rates. “Mr. Aramyan, I do not want to dispute your honesty, but the people are tired of this painting.”
Gagik Minasyan, Chairman of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, was involved in the conversation. “Mr. Petrosyan, you had better ask questions… Speak less from the name of people.”
Vardan Aramyan said: “Mr. Petrosyan, I assure you that you are not the only one who thinks about the people. I assure you that everything we do is for the sake of the people. As regards the improvement of living standards, then in 2017, the GDP per person was $3698, and in 2018, it will become $3984.”