The Armenian government makes great efforts to ensure an economic growth, President Serzh Sargsyan said in an interview to ARMENIA TV, commenting on the government’s steps aimed at easing social tension in the country.

“The only formula to live well is to work and the only way to prosperity is the economic growth, and I think in this sense the government makes great efforts. We should do everything to have a tangible economic growth”, the President said.

President Sargsyan said much more goods should be produced and much more jobs must be created in Armenia. He highlighted the issue of highly-paid jobs as one of the most important issues. “If we say that salaries will not increase in 2018, it isn’t so, the rates will not rise, but people will receive more wages. It will be so as I said: increase of salaries was not envisaged for 2017, but in October of this year the average salary in the Republic is more than 4.8% compared to October of 2016. The same will be in 2018”, he said.

Serzh Sargsyan noted that the government led by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan had a very concrete task which was the following – to achieve effective governance. “Yes, we didn’t put concrete tasks for economic growth since it was linked with certain issues happening in our integration processes and so on. But I think that Karen Karapetyan and the government led by him have set a task before them, and that task is to ensure 5-6% economic growth. If a person sets a task before him, if the government sets a task before it and that task doesn’t go into deep contradictions with your perceptions, whether it is obligatory to announce it? I think that it is not a bad figure. 5% economic growth will enable us to use the results of that growth, it will be visible and tangible”, the President said.