Entry into Customs Union will not lead to sharp price increase

No sharp increase in prices is expected following Armenia’s entry into the Customs Union, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said.

“There cannot be a sharp growth of prices, regardless of whether Armenia will join the Customs Union or not. Prices of some goods may go up, prices of others may go down, but a sharp increase in prices is ruled out,” the president said at the meeting with the staff of Armenian Ministry of Urban Development, according to the presidential press service.

In the president’s words, membership in the Customs Union stems from the Armenian people’s interests, and “the matter concerns not only the economic interest”.

S. Sargsyan considered spreading unverified information about a price increase as unacceptable. He instructed the appropriate bodies to give the necessary explanations.

“We should always remember that in Armenia we have a very high level of press freedom. Journalists without Borders NGO recently published a regular report, in which Armenia is ranked among the regional leaders. In terms of press freedom, we are ahead of some EU countries, for example Greece and Bulgaria, not to mention Georgia and Ukraine, which were considered islands of freedom and democracy. It is an important achievement indeed. And it did not happen accidentally. It is our achievement. But this achievement requires a new work style and extra efforts because press freedom also means the spread of lies and misinformation among the public. Freedom of the press also means that based on their narrow personal or party interests, some groups of people may present any good deed as a bad one,” the Armenian president said.

“So it is not enough to do good deeds and sign good agreements. Look what is going on in our country. Some television channels, print media outlets, dozens of websites, four parliamentary factions, numerous non-parliamentary parties, and dozens of political figures who were partly offended by the authorities cast slurs from morning till night upon the ongoing developments in our country as well as upon our work. In this case we should be very active so as to inform the public about the decisions taken and to get society’s support,” S. Sargsyan said.