An annual household survey conducted by the committee found that the median per-capita income shrank from 76,000 drams to 74,000 drams ($185) per month after years of steady increase. The government agency said most Armenians interviewed by it feel that they need more than twice as much money to lead a good life.
The drop in living standards contrasts with statements by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and other senior government officials touting Armenia’s 12 percent GDP growth in 2022 and its purported impact on the population.
“With any figures, we can substantiate that people’s incomes have risen significantly during our rule,” Economy Minister Vahan Kerobian said earlier this year.
Kerobian on Wednesday refused to comment on the findings of the Statistical Committee released late last week.
“I need to look into [the report,]” he told journalists. “I haven’t read it.”
Tadevos Avetisian, an opposition parliamentarian, said the report exposed the highly uneven distribution of benefits of the Armenian economy’s rapid growth. It has mainly translated into “super profits” in the banking and services sectors, he said.
“Just because commercial bank profits tripled [in 2022] doesn’t mean that people’s incomes in, say, [the small town of] Berd or Chambarak rose faster than consumer prices,” Avetisian told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
The double-digit growth was primarily driven by massive cash inflows from Russia sparked by Western sanctions against Moscow. In particular, Armenian entrepreneurs took advantage of the sanctions, re-exporting used cars, consumer electronics and other goods manufactured in Western countries to Russia.
This explains why Armenian exports to Russia tripled in 2022 and nearly doubled to $2.6 billion in January-September 2023. By contrast, Armenian industrial output contracted about 1 percent in the nine-month period.