FINANCIAL CRISIS HAS REACHED ARMENIA

[MosJan]

A1+’s recent survey shows that most Armenians have suffered from the recent economic crisis which is deepening day by day.

 

“Sick people no longer see doctors. The number of patients keeps falling down, and if they continue ignoring their health problems they will surely die.

 

“I get a salary of 25 000 drams. Yesterday a woman came in a grave state. She said she had no money to pay. What could I do? Shouldn’t I help her?” says cardiologist Anita Mkhitaryan who works in a Yerevan hospital.

 

“Only my father works in our family. During the past five years my uncle living in Volgograd used to send us money. But it is three months he has sent no penny, and we have appeared in a tight,” says 23-year-old pedagogue Narine Hovsepyan.

 

Newsagent Tigran Bayatyan says his clients also began complaining of the crisis which greatly affects his trade. “One of them used to buy five newspapers a day. Today he buys only two. My friend importing journals and magazines from Russia has reduced the import by 50 percent.

 

I can no longer rent the newsstand. Sometimes I have to go to work at the weekends. If once I earned 5000-6000 drams a day, now I get 3500 drams at the best,” said Tigran.

 

36-year-old Vardan thinks the “so-called financial crisis” is bluffing. “A labourer will always find a job. They delude people saying there is a financial crisis worldwide. People are feared to spend their money. This is a crisis,” he says.