In January-August 2021, Armenia was the second country with the lowest inflation in the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU).
The Eurasian Economic Commission published the data. In general, inflation in the EEU area is 6.5%.
The highest rate was recorded in Kyrgyzstan - 11.7%, followed by Belarus - 9%.
Inflation in Kazakhstan is 7.6%, in Armenia 6.4%, and the lowest rate in the EEU this year was recorded in Russia – 6%.
“Of course, within the framework of EEU we can state that Armenia's policy of curbing inflation is somewhat effective. In the region this statement can be further strengthened when we notice that especially in January-August, Georgia, a comparable country with almost the same consumption structure, registered 12.8% inflation,” says economist Artak Manukyan.
Armenia is a mainly an importing country, which has an impact on inflation. According to the Statistics Committee, in January-August of this year, the hike in prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages was 9.3%.
“It is obvious that the high inflation background will be maintained, as it is partly conditioned by the factors of gross supply. But some stabilization is expected due to the effectiveness of the fight against Covid, etc,” Artak Manukyan says.
According to Artak Manukyan, in terms of seasonal products, the prices in Armenia are comparable with the prices in other countries, there are products where there is a positive impact in terms of competition. The exchange rate also plays an important role in this regard, which can also have some impact on prices.
“It is obvious that there is a high level of competition in the Republic of Armenia, which is why the products that have a greater impact in other countries have a relatively lower impact here,” says Artak Manukyan.
Inflation is growing faster than wages. According to economists, this especially affects socially vulnerable groups, and certain steps are being taken in that direction.
“As a rule, one of those steps is indexation, the mechanisms of supporting this class at a more advanced pace. Some steps are already being taken: beneficiaries, expanding the number of their beneficiaries, etc., but I think the revisions to the basic approaches, I think, we will see as the economy develops,” Artak Manukyan says.
In general, food prices rose by 8.2%, non-food products by 6.7% and paid services by 3.8% in the EEU countries.
