YEREVAN, December 19. /ARKA/. Inflation in Armenia will remain within the projected frames, Gagik Minasyan, an MP from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia and the head of the Armenian National Assembly’s finance and budgetary committee, told journalists on Friday.
In the government budget for 2014, inflation is projected at 4% (±1.5%), just as in the 2015 budget.
Minasyan said that a sharp dive of the Armenian national currency, panic and price hikes have driven inflation rate up, but this was a short-term impact that will not change annual indicators.
«Our calculations show that even given this unnatural inflation, inflation will go back to its projected annual rate and will not exceed the 4% (±1.5%) projected in the government budget,» he said.
The Armenian national currency’s fever began on November 24, when the dollar surged 16.6 percentage points to 435 drams hitting its record high in eight years.
After the dollar hit a new record high on December 17, jumping 36.86 percentage points against the national currency to 527.20 drams, it shed 30.2 percentage points on the next day to 497 drams.
Speaking about 2015, Minashyan showed optimism saying that when the fuss subsides and things at the market stabilize, the price rise indicator will be not so high.
According to the National Statistical Service, a year-on-year inflation in Armenia was recorded at 2.8% in Jan-Nov 2014. ($1 – AMD 497). –0–
