Armenia rolls back to Middle Ages, professor says

YEREVAN, December 11. /ARKA/. According to the findings of a research, conducted by a Ukrainian analytical center, Texty.org.ua, Armenia’s is fourth in terms of lowest wages paid in Europe. Ukraine with its 190 euros turned to be the poorest country among those in the survey. 

It was followed by Moldova (216 euros) and Azerbaijan (232 euros). Armenia (250 euros) , Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Albania, Macedonia and Serbia were among other top ten poorest countries in terms of net income. 

In comments on these findings a professor at the Yerevan State University, Hamlet Petrosyan, said Armenia has rolled back to the Middle Ages. According to the professor, a new culture of poverty is again being formed in the country, which differs from the economic and political perception of poverty.  He said  the culture of poverty is a phenomenon in which the poor and unsecured  reproduce their poverty with the new generations. 

"A peculiar way of life becomes inherent in the poor, which is characterized by indifference, irresponsibility, lack of desire to change the way of life ," Petrosyan said. He  stressed that the worrisome factor  is that the authorities' statements show that they have reconciled with the large number of poor people in Armenia as an integral part of life.

"The statements of the authorities show that they treat the poor not as people faced with some or other life difficulties, but as individuals who have strayed from the general path of development of the society," Petrosyan said.

A parliament member from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia  Hakob Hakobyan, who also chairs a parliamentary commission on health and social affairs, has come under strong attacks because of a comment on  how inflation would impact the country’s poor. Hakobyan argued that Armenia’s poor normally spend less and consequently steer clear of purchasing expensive goods. “The government’s policy is to protect the poor from the impact of inflation. Now, there is no need for it to address this issue as poor people have a habit of avoiding expensive items,” he said

Khosrov Harutyunyan, another member of parliament from the Republican Party argued that certain segments of Armenia’s population buy only potatoes, therefore they will continue to purchase only potatoes and will not feel the impact of price hikes. 

According to official figures, Armenia’s population in 2016 was about 3 million while the poverty level was 29.4%, by 0.4 percentage points less than in 2015. The share of very poor was 9.8%, and that of extremely poor -1.8%. The price of staples such as meat, butter, bread and eggs have surged recently. For example, butter price jumped by almost 40 percent. -0-