JULY 2 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Russia has given Armenia a $200m loan to buy Russian-made weapons for its military, media reported quoting Ara Nazaryan, the Armenian deputy defence minister. Russia is Armenia’s closest ally in the region. It is still officially at war with Azerbaijan.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 26 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia said one of its soldiers had been killed in a shootout with Azerbaijan around the disputed region of Nagorno- Karabakh. Armenia and Azerbaijan sporadically clash around Nagorno-Karabakh where a shaky 1994 ceasefire maintains a fragile peace.
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(News report from Issue No. 238, published on July 2 2015)
JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a plan to sell off the government owned Post Office. Armenia needs to update and modernise its Post Office which has 3,000 employees and 250 branches across the country.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 21-25 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — In an often tense standoff with police, thousands of people demonstrated in Yerevan this week against electricity price rises.
A Bulletin correspondent estimated that the protest had swelled to around 8,000 people by Thursday evening, the biggest anti-government demonstration in Armenia for a generation and one that could pose a serious threat to the authorities.
On Tuesday, the second day of the protest, police fired water cannons and detained more than 200 people as they tried to clear Freedom Square in the centre of the city. The assault, though, just appeared to strengthen protesters’ resolve.
“Our demand remains the same and we will not leave Baghramyan Avenue until the illegal decision on electricity price hike will not be annulled,” said Aram Manukyan, an activist.
Hundreds of protesters have camped out overnight since and called for the 17% electricity price rise to be repealed.
This is the third price rise in two years. RAO UES, the Russian company that owns Armenia’s electricity network, said it needed to increase prices because of the fall in the value of the Armenian dram which makes imports expensive.
The price raises are particularly painful because Armenia, like other countries in the region, is having to deal with a drop in its economic prospects.
Protesters had started to gather in central Yerevan on Monday, June 22, in anticipation of parliament approving the electricity price rise two days later.
The next day, police turned their water cannons against the demonstrators and waded into the crowd, detaining people trying to stage a sit-in.
Since then, the crowds of protesters have swelled but been peaceful.
PM Hovik Abrahamyan said that the protests were misguided.
“Blocking one of the major prospects in the city will not lead to any success. I call on the activists to get back to constructive dialogue,” he said.
In 2008, eight people died in Yerevan when soldiers fired on anti-government demonstrators.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s parliament approved a $150m loan from the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB) to build a north-south motorway across the country. The EBD is headquartered in Almaty and is bankrolled mainly by Russia and Kazakhstan. It concentrates on member states of the Kremlin-led Eurasian Economic Union.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 22 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – YEREVAN — Armenia’s government wants to change the way it measures its national debt, a con trick, its opponents have said, which is aimed at massaging the numbers by cutting out the Central Bank’s borrowings.
The Armenian parliament passed a first reading of a bill which will ditch the current state debt and instead measure the national debt.
Atom Janjughazyan, deputy finance minister, said the change was needed to meet international standards.
“The sole purpose of the bill is to improve the financial statistics of the State in accordance with international practice,” he said in parliament.
But opposition MPs said the change was merely a cover for allowing the government to borrow so that it can ease itself out of the current financial downturn, triggered by a fall in the Russian economy, the main economic driver for the former Soviet Union.
And this viewpoint appears to be backed by international economists. Teresa Daban Sanchez, the IMF representative in Armenia, told an Armenian newspaper the country’s external debt is now uncomfortable.
“The government needs to take measures so that the debt against the GDP index begins to fall,” she said.
Armenia’s government has previously said it will borrow to prop itself up through the current economic downturn. Under government rules its debt must be below 60% of GDP.
Mr Janjughazyan, the deputy finance minister, said under the new system, Armenia’s debt measured $4.4b against a GDP of $10.9m, comfortably below the 60% mark.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 23 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia’s Central Bank kept its key interest rate unchanged at 10.5% as inflation steadied. The Central Bank increased its interest rate to 10.5% in February as it tried to defend the value of its currency.
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(News report from Issue No. 237, published on June 25 2015)
JUNE 15 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – A Russian soldier was found stabbed to death in the city of Gyumri, Armenia, home to one of Russia’s largest overseas military bases. Media reported that another Russian soldier has been detained on suspicion of killing the man.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – US-based Contour Global Hydro Cascade formally received a 25-year licence to produce electricity at the Vorotan hydropower plants from Armenia’s state regulator. Although a formality, the licence is significant as Vorotan produces around 15% of Armenia’s electricity.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)
JUNE 17 2015 (The Conway Bulletin) – Armenia faces a chronic shortage of electricity within three to four years unless it brings online extra generating capacity, the World Bank said in a report.
Power generation in Armenia is particularly controversial as it involves the Metsamor nuclear power station outside Yerevan.
Metsamor, built in the 1970s, generates around 40% of Armenia’s power but is considered a danger by the European Union because of its aging technology and location in an earthquake-prone zone. It has recommended that the power station is closed down although Armenia earlier this year elected to bring a Russian company in to extend the lifespan of the power station.
Lora Bailly, head of the World Bank office in Yerevan, said that even with Metsamor generating power, Armenia still faced a problem.
“Our analysis suggests that in the near future Armenia will need additional capacity to avoid power shortages. It is very important in three to four years to put into operation a new thermal power unit,” she said at a press conference in Yerevan.
And next year the Armenian government plans to close the Metsamor power station for six months for repairs.
Ms Bailly said that Armenia could supplement its current power generation with thermal power.
This month electricity shortages have been in focus in Armenia. The state regulators have just approved a 17% increase in electricity prices, the third rise in two years, irritating many Armenians. Opposition groups have promised protests.
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(News report from Issue No. 236, published on June 18 2015)