We Want to Use Phones as If Tied with a String: Pashinyan

The resident of the largest village in Aparan informed Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan that the residents of 10 villages in the region are forced to travel 20 km to reach Aparan for banking transactions, hence the need for a bank branch and an ATM in the area.

“Folks, in reality, you need a phone and an application for that. We're currently putting a lot of effort into digitization, so you can sit next to your TV, pay your electricity, pay your gas, pay your phone, receive your salary, transfer money to your friend, and make any transactions. I am looking at my application, and it has everything,” he stated.

In response to the citizen’s remark that all the country's banks should be closed in that case, Pashinyan replied that they are closing, and branches are gradually decreasing. “Do you know what it’s like to say you want to use phones as if tied with a string? Why? For your pains, call, there’s a mobile phone available. I didn't learn it quickly; it was very difficult for me to learn this application. But now I use it to pay for my kids’ cafeteria and school,” the Prime Minister clarified.

He added that using the application helps save time and energy. “The banking system is a private system that brings something, places it; you have to cover its expenses. Now retirees don’t even cash their pensions; why don’t they cash their pensions? Because they know that for making non-cash transactions, they will get back 10,000-12,000 drams. It’s better to organize a course in the village introducing this digital application so that people understand there’s no need for a bank or an ATM. We can say, ‘Bring it here,’ but after three months, they will withdraw it. Why? Because they will say, ‘The ATM is sitting on me with one million drams, and I am receiving 500,000 drams from the transactions here, who will give me the remaining 500,000 drams?’ This is the whole problem,” noted Nikol Pashinyan.