We finalized the economic processes of the year in our previous publications to close the economic year. Thus, we have written that the country had only 2.6% DGP growth during this year. It is a very low economic growth in order to be able to speak of successful projects. The GDP growth could be higher in the middle of the year and there was time when it reached 8%. But the situation became worse because of the sector of agriculture as the situation was very bad with agriculture. In answer to the question whether this slump in the sector of agriculture is conditioned by the weather conditions or the government’s policy the minister said, “The main reason of the slump is the weather conditions. It was the same in the region both in Russia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. What was the failure of the government if the weather was bad in March-April and the harvest flowers were frozen?”
The sector of agriculture has slumped in the neighboring countries too, but not so much. From the first day of Gerasim Alaverdyan’s appointment in the minister’s position this sector has been criticized widely. The critics started with the sheep and now they are criticizing the agriculture for the raise of the cheese prices. Notwithstanding all these problems Gerasim Alaverdyan will meet the New Year in the minister’s office. In answer to a question whether he is satisfied with the work he has done he said: “I don’t like to evaluate my work. Personally I am at work at nine o’clock in the morning and I am working all day long, thus it is up to the society to evaluate my work.” To be honest most of the society don’t recognize even the minister’s face as they don’t know him. A couple of days ago the minister visited one of the food markets to get familiar with the prices, a young man talked to him and said “yes man” as he had not recognized him.
Anyway the minister of agriculture is still in the office notwithstanding the fact that because of the rapid slump of his sector the GDP was not so cute as it used to be before. The growth was possible due to the sector of production. However we do not have a separate ministry in charge of this sector, otherwise that minister would be praised for good work. At least they could praise the minister of economy for this development but he is going to be fired too. Generally the end of the past year was very active and unpredictable as there were many replacements in the government. There were justified replacements, and other replacements without any reasonable explanations. Definitely the most understandable replacement was the economy minister Nerses Yeritsyan’s replacement. He was replaced notwithstanding his assurances that the country has coped with the crisis effectively. Shortly after his resignation he was appointed deputy president of the Central Bank. The Lragir.am has tried to find out the reasons of Yeritsyan’s resignation in heir interview taken from the prime minister. Specifically, in a question concerning some standards state officials must comply to and whether the minister of finances had anything wrong with it the prime minister said, “As to the replacements, when you replace or re-arrange your intellectual potential it does not mean that anything is wrong, or if Yeritsyan was replaced it does not mean he had a behavior which did not comply with the standards you said. The case was very different with him. It is about the re-arrangement of our powers within our team to be able to use our potential in the best manner, and the president has said this in his speech. That is why I don’t think Yeritsyan’s replacement should be viewed in this context. This is mere re-arrangement of our powers within our team.”
Of course this did not give an answer to the question why Nerses Yeritsyan was removed from his position, but the PM’s words gave an answer to another question which is no less important. It made clear what is in fact being done under the cover of replacing or re-arranging the specialists. In fact the prime minister approves the accusations of the opposition. For example, when the former PM Hrant Bagratyan was asked if these replacements can bring to any positive change he said that it cannot change anything as the system stays the same.
Definitely the most important and interesting part of the interview is the following. When speaking of the oligarchs, small and medium businesses and the rules of the game Tigran Sargsyan said that we have a fundamental problem of thinking. He finished his idea with the following: “What is the struggle being done for?” “Is it for the power? In fact you are fighting for the power too,” asked the journalist. The answer was the following: “Certainly. What is the purpose of elections? It is a struggle for the power”.
Certainly it is worth giving credits to the PM for being that fair and honest in his opinions. In other words, we should not become very happy for these changes, meet the New Year as we usually do and believe that everything is done for the power notwithstanding their speeches and assurances.