Price Increases Recorded for Various Products in Armenia

The increase in prices is evident; everything has become more expensive. While meat may not have increased significantly, on average, we are seeing very high inflation,” said Babken Pipoyan, president of the 'Informed and Protected Consumer' NGO, in an interview with Lragir.am.

According to him, monitoring is not currently being conducted. The issue should be resolved through the work of state bodies, which is not happening. “A few weeks ago, we conducted monitoring and found that there are severe price fluctuations in the market. We experienced a situation where we had to change the data from our previous day's monitoring the following evening due to price changes. A scenario has emerged in the country where justifications can be found for everything, from procurement prices to the depreciation of the dram and unstable conditions that can lead to abuses. Taking into account the first two factors, a fertile ground is created for additional speculation by economic operators,” he noted.

The expert stated that clear mechanisms should be in place by state bodies. “This situation could have been prevented exclusively through state control. The products have increased in price, but if state oversight does not talk about applying sanctions and does not conduct monitoring for sanctions, it is not prevented. If we do not prevent something, we will not achieve any effect in the interests of consumers; aside from talking and registering, there will be nothing left, which means we will face pointless resource loss,” Pipoyan said.

According to him, the Statistical Committee will soon release figures that will show that there has been unprecedented inflation. It is worth noting that recently, the Central Bank's board decided to raise the refinancing rate by 1.0 percentage points, setting it at 5.25%. According to official statistics, inflation in Armenia is at a low level. In November 2020, an inflation rate of 1.3% was recorded compared to 1.1% in the same month the previous year, with the 12-month inflation rate at 1.6%, still below the target level of 4%, stated the Central Bank. December's figures have not yet been released, but the Central Bank forecasted higher inflation for the upcoming months. Consequently, a decision was made to raise the refinancing rate.