According to the consumer basket planned out by the Ministry of Health, we must all consume 355 grams of bread products, 100 grams of meat products, 30 grams of fish, 500 grams of dairy products, half an egg, 250 grams of potatoes, 300 grams of vegetables, 200 grams of fruit and 50 grams of sugar. The national statistic service has estimated the least monthly value of the consumer basket.
For the third trimester of 2005, that amount is estimated to be 29405.7 dram. The amount for the consumer basket including nutritional costs is estimated to be 18040.3 drams monthly, according to the Ministry of Health. If we can eat well with 18,000 drams, then we can spend the rest of the money for clothes, baths, combing our hair and sometimes go to the market in order to buy the food on the list. That is of course, when each Armenian citizen knows how to get 29,405.7 drams.
According to the law about the minimum basket for nutrition and the budget, the minimum budget standard for living healthy is estimated at least once a year until June 30, based on the prices of nutritional products, non-nutritional products included in the consumer basket. The government has not confirmed the consumer budget for this year. “We foresee changes in the law. We can’t confirm anything until the changes are made,” said head of the work department of the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues V. Simonyan. If we take into consideration the existing law, according to which the base for the minimum consumer budget are the salaries, pensions, stipendiums, as well as estimation of subsidies and other expenses, what remains unclear is why the government has estimated the monthly salary to be 15,000 drams starting from January 1st of next year.
“Let them fit in that basket”
However, how much is needed to live on for one month?
“5-6000 drams for electricity, 750 for water, 900 for the telephone bill, another 400-500 drams for talking on the phone, another 1200 for rent, plus food-not to mention clothes, shoes, laundry detergent, medicine in case we get sick. Just do the math,” one pensioner was trying to estimate how much he and his partner spend in one month. Their only income is the pension for two people. “There are four people in my family. If I don’t buy meat or anything else, I need at least 100 dollars,” says 62 year old refugee Norik Hayrapetyan. Norik is the only one that works in his family-he resells dried fruit at the market. “I have served on a marine for 24 years, but I don’t receive pension for the work done until now because I don’t have a work booklet to fill out. They tell me to go stamp the booklet. I ask them where, I was living in Baku at the time. Can’t Aghvan Vartanyan go there and get the stamp?”
“A person living alone needs at least 100 dollars a month,” says 70 year old Lena Ulikhanyan. Her family consists of 3 members. She is a pensioner and her two children receive a 19,000 dram salary. “But if we continue like this and things don’t get worse, I am still thankful,” says Mrs. Lena.
Mother of five Nora Hakobyan is more modest, she has been an economist for so many years that, in her words, “I can take care of my five member family with 200 dollars, as long as I have a job. I have received a university education but I am forced to resell products at the market. My husband is an artisan. His work is seasonal-if he has work, he will do it. If not, then he relies on me. I have a son who is serving in the army in Karabagh. Not once has the government provided us with a free bus to go and visit our son. How long can we ask for debts. Now they are amending the constitution. What do I care? I will go and vote “no”.
“My dear, how do they estimate the minimum consumer basket and give me that much pension?” asks 70 year old Sos Hakobyan. “I have 50 years of work experience and I receive a 15,000 dram pension. Can the estimator and his chief fit in with the amount that they calculate? If they can, then I will listen to them when they say hey you, ordinary citizen fit in with the consumer basket budget.”