Consumption Decreased Due to Deterioration of People's Mood, Says Minister of Economy

Consumption has sharply declined in recent months, primarily due to a downturn in people’s mood rather than a lack of income. This was stated by the Minister of Economy, Vahan Karapetyan, during an interview with Petros Ghazaryan on Public Television on January 7.

“We see from the statistical data and the market that people's incomes have not fallen as much as their purchasing power, meaning that people simply are not spending money. Therefore, the apparent savings do not actually exist; in other words, people have money,” he said.

Addressing inflation, the minister noted that it was below acceptable limits in November, with product prices having increased within permissible boundaries by 2 percent or less.