Wednesday, July 1, 2020 Pashinian Concerned By Armenia’s Coronavirus Crisis • Naira Nalbandian Armenia -- A healthcare worker in protective gear tends to a COVID-19 patient at the Surp Grigor Lusavorich Medical Center, Yerevan, June 5, 2020. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian said on Wednesday that the novel coronavirus is continuing to spread in Armenia despite his government’s efforts to get people to follow its anti-epidemic rules. Pashinian reported a nearly 30 percent year-on-year surge in the total number of deaths registered in the country in June. “Of course changes in these mortality statistics are not fully connected with the coronavirus, but the coronavirus situation definitely has a significant impact on them,” he told a daily news briefing in Yerevan. The Armenian Ministry of Health reported earlier in the day that 10 more people died from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the official death toll to 453. The figure does not include the deaths of 149 other people who were also infected with the virus. The ministry says that these deaths were primarily caused by other, pre-existing diseases. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country of about 3 million rose by 523 to 26,065. Ministry data shows that almost 29 percent of coronavirus tests carried out on Tuesday came back positive. “Unfortunately, we are still not succeeding in achieving our main strategic goal in the fight against the coronavirus epidemic,” said Pashinian. “Our main strategic goal is to learn to live with the coronavirus.” The prime minister again complained that many Armenians still do not practice social distancing or wear face masks in public areas despite his and other officials’ persistent appeals. He said that on Tuesday alone police fined almost 2,700 citizens for not complying with these requirements. Armenia -- Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian at a news conference in Yerevan, July 1, 2020. Opposition politicians and other critics of Pashinian blame his government for the continuing coronavirus crisis. Some of them say that the government never properly enforced a nationwide lockdown imposed in late March and lifted it too soon. Pashinian indicated his continuing opposition to renewed lockdown restrictions in the country. “We are continuing to put the emphasis on changing the personal behavior of each of us because this is how we are going to overcome the coronavirus epidemic with minimum economic losses,” he said. Meanwhile, the European Union and the World Health Organization (WHO) donated 10,000 test kits to Armenia on Wednesday. In a joint statement, they said that the donation “will allow wider testing for COVID-19 across the country free of charge.” The Armenian health authorities carry out an average of over 2,000 coronavirus tests on a daily basis. They are expected to start using soon coronavirus tests manufactured by the Yerevan-based Institute of Molecular Biology. The director of the state-run institute, Arsen Arakelian, announced that it will produce at least 2,000 tests a day. Armenia will not have to import them anymore, he said. Armenia's Central Bank Sees Economy Contracting 4% In 2020 Armenia - Workers at a commercial greenhouse in Ararat province, 19Apr2017. (Reuters) - Armenia’s economy will contract by 4 percent in 2020 due to the negative impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but is expected to recover and grow 5.5 percent next year, Martin Galstian, the country’s Central Bank head, said on Tuesday. The Central Bank had previously forecast a contraction of 0.7 percent this year after growth of 7.6 percent in 2019. The worst-affected sectors of the economy are services and construction as well as international tourism, Galstian said while presenting the bank’s quarterly inflation report. Inflation is expected to be around 1.9 percent in 2020. Armenia’s consumer price index declined 0.1 percent in May month-on-month, but rose 1.2 percent year-on-year. In the report, the bank said the amount of private remittances would decline by 22-25 percent this year due to the drop in oil prices in Russia, Armenia’s main trade partner, and Moscow’s ban on migrant workers during the pandemic. However, it said that would not have a significant impact on GDP. The Central Bank cut its key refinancing rate to 4.5 percent from 5 percent last month, citing weakening external and internal demand as well as a slow pace of recovery. The country of around 3 million people had reported 25,542 cases of the coronavirus as of Tuesday, and 443 deaths. It is the worst-affected country in the South Caucasus region. Armenian President Objects To Property Tax Hikes Armenia -- President Armen Sarkissian addresses an international online seminar on the coronavirus pandemic, Yerevan, June 24, 2020. President Armen Sarkissian has voiced serious objections to a government bill that will sharply increase property taxes in Armenia while agreeing to sign it into law. In a statement released late on Tuesday, the presidential press office said Sarkissian believes the bill passed by the Armenian parliament last week is “untimely” given the continuing coronavirus crisis in the country and its dire socioeconomic consequences. “Even if the law is not going to be immediately enforced [in full,] the moral-psychological consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and resulting financial and economic problems will be felt for a long time,” it said. The statement added that Sarkissian signed the bill only because it does not seem to contradict the Armenian constitution. It noted that “unfortunately” the constitution does not allow the largely ceremonial head of state to veto bills or send them back to the National Assembly for further discussion. The two parliamentary opposition parties as well as other critics of the Armenian government have also spoken out against property tax hikes, saying that they will put a heavy financial burden on low-income families. The government and Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian’s My Step bloc dismiss the criticism. They say that the measure will lead to a more fair income distribution and significantly boost local community budgets. Government officials have also argued that proceeds from the property tax are currently equivalent to just 0.2 percent of Armenia’s Gross Domestic Product, compared with 1.1 percent in neighboring Georgia and 1.2 percent in Russia. The controversial bill will gradually introduce a complex progressive scale of property taxation over the next four years. For example, the owners of small apartments worth an estimated 23 million drams ($48,000) will pay 18,000 drams, while ownership of larger properties that cost 58 million drams will translate into 108,000 drams ($224) in annual taxes. Tax authorities will levy at least 326,000 drams from apartments worth 100 million drams or more. The owners of large and expensive houses will have to pay even more. The expensive properties include Soviet-built apartments located in the center of Yerevan. Many of their owners inherited them from their parents and are not necessarily affluent. Critics say that they will be hit hardest by the higher taxes and could even be forced to sell their homes. Some of these homeowners circulated late last week a petition urging the government to reconsider the measure. Japan Donates Medical Equipment To Armenia Japan -- Ambulance workers in protective gear prepare to transfer coronavirus patients from the cruise ship Diamond Princess at in Yokohama, February 12, 2020. Armenia has received a $3.7 million grant from Japan to buy sophisticated medical equipment that could be used in its fight against the coronavirus. An agreement on the release of the Japanese government grant was signed on Tuesday by Armenian Finance Minister Atom Janjughazian and Japan’s Ambassador to Armenia Jun Yamada. The Armenian Finance Ministry said the money will be spent on the purchase of Japanese-made magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) machines and other medical equipment. It said some of that equipment will be installed in four ambulance vehicles catering for residents of the country’s remote communities. “This project aims to assist Armenia in its fight against the COVID-19 epidemic by strengthening its mid- to long-term healthcare and medical system,” read a statement released by the Japanese Embassy in Yerevan. “I sincerely hope that the new equipment from Japan will contribute to significantly upgrading the capacity of healthcare and medical institutions in the country,” it quoted Yamada as saying. Health Minister Arsen Torosian thanked the Japanese government for the donation, according to the statement. Since the start of the coronavirus epidemic, Armenia has also received medical equipment and other supplies from the United States, the European Union, Russia and China. U.S. Ambassador Lynne Tracy told RFE/RL’s Armenian service on June 4 that Washington has allocated $5.4 million in fresh coronavirus-related aid to Armenia. She said much of that aid will be channeled into Armenian laboratories and healthcare services dealing with “the most severe cases” of COVID-19. Japan is also the main foreign donor of the Armenian Rescue Service (ARS), having provided it with several dozen fire engines and other firefighting equipment, worth a combined $22 million, over the past decade. Reprinted on ANN/Armenian News with permission from RFE/RL Copyright (c) 2020 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc. 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.