MP blames increase in Russian gas price on global trends

YEREVAN, May 21. /ARKA/. The chairman of an Armenian parliament committee on economic affairs, Vartan Ayvazian from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, blamed the anticipated rise in the price of imported Russian gas to Armenia on global trends. 

Speaking at a news conference he said  the increased  price  is going to be  a major challenge for the Armenian economy, however, ‘we must realize that the gas is a commodity, and its price is climbing". According to him, the way out is to raise wages.

On May 14 Armenia’s Russian-controlled national gas distribution company ArmRosGazprom (ARG) and its subsidiary Transgaz formally requested that the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) allow them to raise the gas price for households from 132,000 (about $318) to 221,000 drams ($532) per one thousand cubic meters. They said the tariff for industrial enterprises and other corporate consumers, which use over 10,000 cubic meters a month should also go up accordingly.

ArmRosGazprom is the sole company dealing with delivery and distribution of Russian natural gas to Armenia through Georgia. The company was founded in 1997, some 80 percent of its shares are owned by Russian Gazprom and the rest by Armenian government. -0-