HRANT BAGRATYAN: PRESIDENT MUST NOT BECOME MULTIMILLIONAIRE
news.am
Jan 18 2010
Armenia
"The Armenian authorities state that if Armenia is granted loans the
lenders consider it solvent, which is erroneous thinking," the former
Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan told reporters. A total of
U.S. $54m were spent on serving the foreign debt in 2008, U.S. $74m
in 2009, and U.S. $115m will be spent in 2010, he said. According to
Bagratyan’s forecasts, Armenia will spend a total of U.S. $280m on
covering the foreign debt in 2012, and U.S. $478m in 2013. This means
that Armenia will spend 9-10 times as much as the present amount on
covering its foreign debt within the next few years.
According to Bagratyan, last year Armenia "squandered the Russian
commercial credit received at an annual interest rate of 7-8 per cent."
"If we fail to pay the U.S. $478m, what are we to do? As a rule,
such a case is considered default. If you fail to repay debts you
have to make political concessions. For example, in four years we
will ask for a settlement of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict which we
do not agree to now," Bagratyan said.
As to whether Armenian received credits on political terms, Bagratyan
said with reservation: "I think so, though creditors ask for funds to
be borrowed worldwide. For example, interest-free loans are granted
in Japan, because much money is available. But they wait when Armenia
applies for a 3% loan. The Russian loan has an interest rate of +3
LIBOR, which means an annual interest rate of 7-8 per cent. We have
the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic as well. The creditors think this way:
now I give money, then I make use of this factor. In fact, in three or
four years we will pay much more as debts than we spend on the army,"
Bagratyan said. According to him, if Armenia applied to Russia for a
loan at such a high interest rate, the Government might have borrowed
funds from Armenian banks thereby boosting the local banking system
and economy.
Bagratyan believes that the incumbent authorities are incapable of
ensuring normal economic development.
As to whether the Armenian National Congress (ANC) has the necessary
potential, Bagratyan said: "Yes, it has. The ANC will free the economy
and properly distribute economic resources. The resources will
be available to entire society rather than to a few oligarchs. We
will never allow the President to become a multimillionaire or the
Church to engage in commerce. The Church is officially registered as
a commercial enterprise now. So what church, what Christ… Resources
do not fall from the skies. We must turn what we have into resources,"
Bagratyan said.