The “main result” of 2011 for Armenia is the poverty increase, an MP said.
ARF Dashnaktsutyun member Artsvik Minasyan argued that according to official figures the number of the poor reached 1,2 million people, marking a 300 thousand increase over past two years. The MP called global financial crisis and Armenian government’s unapt reaction to it the main reasons for the current statistics.
Minasyan also reflected on the issue of emigration, stating his estimate of around 50-60 thousand people having left the country during the year. “However, I do not believe the authorities would deliberately pursue treacherous policy for increasing emigration,” he added.
A member of the ruling Republican Party of Party of Armenia (RPA), Hovhannes Sahakyan, in turn, said that “the authorities voice the social problems, rather than silences them”, adding that these problems are common for all countries but not only Armenia.
