Bananas Will Be Cheapest in August, Pipoyan Says

Babken Pipoyan, president of the NGO "Informed and Protected Consumer" and a member of the Public Council, stated in an interview with Tert.am that the price increase of bananas is related to seasonality. He mentioned that there have been several coincidences recently regarding changes in banana prices and political statements.

"During Karen Karapetyan's period, there was a political statement that there are no more monopolies, and after that statement coincided with the importation of seasonal banana batches into Armenia at a more affordable price. Later, as the season was coming to an end, bananas began to rise slowly in price, followed by a change in power, which coincided with the season of banana price reduction, and now we have entered the season where they should rise in price again," he said.

Thus, according to him, the sharp decline in banana prices after the revolution was just a coincidence. "Let no one take credit for it, because if someone attributes something to themselves that is not theirs, and then a naturally negative event occurs, they are forced to bear the burden of that," he stated.

Babken Pipoyan considered it possible that one batch may slightly increase in price, and then begin to decrease again, ultimately reaching the most affordable price by summer. He noted that this also depends on which country the bananas are imported from. Pipoyan added that bananas will be the cheapest in Armenia in August.

Regarding the statement that the price of bananas was related to a monopoly, the NGO president said that he currently has no information about monopolies in this sector.