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• Opposition: Authorities in Armenia unable to handle the economy

The founding President of Armenia Levon Ter-Petrosian has apologized for giving birth to Mr. Kocharyan's political power. The Armenian Citizens and the Armenian Diaspora all over the World have perceived that fact with understanding. Mr. Kocharyan used to fear the true friendship of Mr. Levon Ter-Petrosian, Mr. Stepan Demirjyan and Mr. Aram Sargisyan. At 10/27/99, Dashnaks were together with Mr. K...

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The current authorities of Armenia are unable to settle any economic problem in the country, because the whole machinery of state is in the hands of a group of oligarchs, whereas the authorities simply serve that group of people, Levon Zurabyan, coordinator of the main opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), charged at a press conference Tuesday.

According to him, while during the recent years the current economic system managed to survive somehow mainly at the expense of remittances wired home by Armenians living and working abroad, then during this year the world economic crisis has revealed its whole incapacity.

“During the upcoming winter people will not be able to pay their utilities bills and the economy will end up in collapse. The only solution for the current situation is the resignation of the authorities and snap presidential and parliamentary elections,” said Zurabyan.

Bagrat Asatryan, former head of the Central Bank of Armenia, called Armenia “a unique record breaker” in the world in showing a 18 percent economic decline during the first nine months of 2009.

Asatryan believes that the reason for the decline is not the world economic crisis (according to him, the role of the world economic crisis in the economic decline in Armenia is no more than 5 percent), but rather the wrong decision of the government.

“You can’t deal with economic problems by constantly borrowing from foreigners. In Armenia, because of monopolies and privileges which are at the disposal of oligarchs, small and medium-sized businesses are almost destroyed, there is no competition, and large businesses need no money investment,” Asatryan said.

The oppositionists called the draft state budget for 2010 “an attempt of the Armenian government to make a show in the eyes of Armenians and the international community.”