Expert: Armenia’s customs policy can mitigate inflation growth

PanARMENIAN.Net - Chairman of the Armenian Union of Local Manufacturers (AULM), head of the Public Council’s Committee on Financial, Economic and Budgetary Affairs Vazgen Safaryan said that the Armenian government’s customs policy can mitigate the growth in inflation rate.

The cost of customs clearance of many foodstuffs imported to Armenia is rather high, what in its turn affects prices for foodstuffs, Safaryan told a press conference in Yerevan.

He added that the state should take certain actions to produce essential foodstuffs inside the country to supply them to the market in case of deficit and regulate prices.

Head of the RA NA Standing Committee for Social affairs, member of the Republican Party of Armenia parliamentary group Hakob Hakobyan said for his part that the problem of inflation cannot be solved through a couple of actions.

According to him, a complex approach is needed to tackle inflation.

“Provision of inexpensive loan resources to villagers should be the first step,” Hakobyan said.

However, according to him, there has never been a case when the Armenian government allocated a budgetary loan, which was completely repaid then. Hakobyan noted that the direct credit mechanism, state-citizen, is violated in Armenia.