“Zhamanak” wonders how long the upcoming power-sharing deal between President Serzh Sarkisian’s Republican Party of Armenia (HHK) and the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun) will last. In particular, the paper says it will be interesting to see whether the two parties will “part ways” ahead of the May 2017 parliamentary elections or contest them jointly. “If they part ways, will they again form a coalition after the elections?” it asks, adding that this is more important than the question of when the power-sharing deal will be formalized.
Artsvik Minasian, a Dashnaktsutyun leader, assures “Aravot” that his party is willing to rejoin the government with the sole aim of achieving “real” change in Armenia. “We can have a permanent conflict with anyone who would oppose those reforms, fair competition, anti-corruption measures, and promotion of democratic values and stimulation of an economic upswing in the country,” says Minasian.
“It turns out that Serzh Sarkisian’s latest extensive speech angered many people,” writes “Chorrord Ishkhanutyun.” “What angered people is not the fact that the speech had nothing to do with reality … but that it showed that Serzh Sarkisian is well aware what a normal country should look like. It’s one thing when a person does wrong things or does nothing at all because he doesn’t know to do, and it’s another thing when he knows what to do but doesn’t do it.”
“Haykakan Zhamanak” is unimpressed by the Armenian Central Bank’s decision on Tuesday to lower its benchmark refinancing rate by 0.25 percentage points to 8.5 percent. “It can be concluded that the Central Bank has adopted an extremely cautious tactic,” comments the paper. It says that the bank should have approved a steeper rate cut and thus stimulated economic activity in Armenia now that consumer price inflation is at a very low level. “Maybe they fear in the Central Bank that despite substantial price decreases in world markets there would be a risk of price hikes in our monopolized economy,” speculates the paper.
(Tigran Avetisian)