The abolishment of the wealth tax demonstrates that the new government of Armenia is not going to change anything in the country, economist Armen Martirosyan, Deputy Head of Heritage Party, said at today's press conference in Yerevan.
He said that the new Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan and the members of the Cabinet have repeatedly proved by the activities that their interests do not coincide with the citizens' interests. He pointed out that the Government's program contains nothing essential and only throws dust in the people's eyes.
"Armenia does not face the miracle of Singapore. The 5% economic growth forecast by the Government will not solve the socio-economic problems in the country. To solve them, the country needs to achieve a 10% GDP growth", stressed Martirosyan. He also assures that the Government will fail to reduce poverty by 10% and to contribute to development of small and medium businesses. "The members of the Government have been stifling the small and medium businesses for years, bringing them to a nonplus and creating monopolies. All of a sudden, they have started fighting against themselves. This is absurdity!" he said.
Martirosyan disagrees with ex-Premier Hrant Bagratyan, who thinks that the given program of the Government "smells like a program". Martirosyan believes that this program is even more vague than the previous programs and contains practically no specific mechanisms or figures. "Economy is mathematics, however, for some reason the Government has assumed the President's powers and decided to include defense and foreign policy in the program. It has also failed to make specific forecasts and action plans to develop the economy", said Martirosyan.