YEREVAN, December 8. /ARKA/. The well-being of an average citizen of Armenia will be worse by 8% than a year ago, according to Arkady Khachatryan, an MP from the opposition Bright Armenia.
Speaking in parliament today, he said his estimate is based on a predicted 8% economic decline this year.
According to the adjusted government budget, approved by the parliament on October 7, the country’s economy is expected to experience a decline of 6.8%, up from the earlier predicted 2% reduction, approved in April.
“The only stability we have at the moment is the macroeconomic stability. If we violate it, it will become an economic tragedy for our country,” Khachatryan said.
He also added that the war in Nagorno-Karabakh and the deaths of thousands of mainly young men has had a demographic impact, which may worsen in the context of the impending economic crisis.
“It is necessary to mobilize all the resources of our country as soon as possible, unless it is too late. Political stability, reduction of uncertainty will create conditions for the restoration of economic activity and strengthening of financial stability,” Khachatryan said.
For this, according to him, there should be a stable political force to lead the country and the “suppressed people” out of the crisis.
The Bright Armenia organized on Monday parliamentary hearings on the current situation and ways out. The ruling My Step alliance refused to participate in them. The Bright Armenia presented a “road map.”
From September 27 to November 9 2020 Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line, using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
On November 9, the leaders of the Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities in Artsakh. According to the document, the parties stopped at where they were at that time. The town of Shushi, the districts of Aghdam, Kelbajar and Lachin are handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A 2000-member Russian peacekeeping contingent has been deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. Internally displaced persons and refugees are returning to Karabakh and adjacent regions, prisoners of war, hostages and other detained persons and bodies of the dead are being exchanged.