YEREVAN, April 4, /ARKA/. An independent economic expert Harutyun Mesrobian questioned today the Armenian government’s pledge to bring inflation down to 6% by yearend saying the rise of commodities prices at global market and the staggering domestic agriculture will make it impossible.
Speaking at a news conference he said major trends will be determined by summer months and the agricultural yield, as well as by global commodity prices, especially those of fuel and basic foodstuffs.
‘Having in mind that Armenia is an importing country, any change in global prices will affect the inflation rate,’ Mesrobian said, adding also that a drop in global prices will, however, have no downward impact on domestic prices.
He added that monopolies continue to have a very negative impact on inflation rates and all these factors in view there is little ground to trust the government’s assurances.
According to the official data, in the first quarter of 2011 inflation rose by 5.2% and by 11.2% from a year earlier. In 2011 March inflation rose by 0.8% from February driven primarily by rise in prices of foods by 0.8% and services by 0.9%.
Earlier prime minister Tigran Sarkisian said a set of measures initiated by the government and Central Bank would allow to bring prices down starting from mid summer. The EBRD and IMF have forecasted the inflation to be within the government-projected target of (±1.5%). -0-
