ArmInfo. In the economic sphere of Armenia there are very trivial decisions and there are some new ideas. This was stated in an interview with RBC by the leader of the "Make a step" movement, opposition MP Nikol Pashinyan, answering a question about the programs of political and economic reforms.
"The trivial decision is that there should not be any monopolies in Armenia at all, because 20,000 items of products are imported [to Armenia] by a very small number of businessmen." In fact, it is forbidden to do this for others. "Carrefour is one of the largest companies in the sugar trade. But in fact, Carrefour is prohibited from importing sugar to Armenia, they need to be allowed to do this and others, too, and we will definitely do it, and we will also reform the trading system so as to practically destroy the shadow economy, "he said.
At the same time Pashinyan stated that in Russia, for example, there are bonus cards when you buy something in stores and some percentage of purchases remains on the balance of this card. According to him, they want to make a single bonus system in the payment system of Armenia - in taxis, shops, and services. "A certain percentage of annual purchases will be accumulated in your open bank account, which you can pick up whenever you want, so that the buyer is interested in registering transactions." The tax authorities will register these transactions and, accordingly, take a duty from them that for a year this would lead to almost a 30 percent increase in the budget, which means higher wages, pensions, and so on, " explained the opposition MP.
Touching on Armenia's dependence on Russian business, in particular, the provision by Gazprom Gazprom's subsidiary Gazprom of supplying and selling natural gas in the domestic market of the country and the possibilities to reduce this dependence, Pashinyan stressed that first of all it is necessary to look at how the price for gas is formed in the Armenian domestic market, because on the border the Russian gas is really quite cheap. "When it comes to people, the price doubles, and it's a very doubtful fact, we will work to understand why this happens, and I hope we will have some opportunities to reduce the price on the domestic market," Pashiyan said.
Speaking about what needs to be rectified in the Eurasian Economic Union, the deputy stated that the Organization has a lot of problems. At the same time he expressed the hope that they will calmly and patiently discuss these problems and there will be no crises in this area.
To comment on what he says without specifics, Pashinyan said: "Yes, because this is a very sensitive topic, and we must be very careful."
At the same time, Pashinyan stressed that they never said that Armenia should leave the CSTO. "We said that Armenia should understand what our strategic partners have to do with us and what specific commitments we have for them, because there is a lot of confusion in this sphere." We believe the requirements should be specified and mutual obligations, too, "Pashinyan said.