YEREVAN.- Nothing is done to combat corruption in Armenia, said former Armenian Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan.

He believes it is impossible to speak about anti-corruption programs while at the same time monopolizing economy.

“Why are you monopolizing lands, trade and industry? If the government wants to combat inflation, it should eliminate monopolies. Let them show there is someone who is able to import sugar in Armenia and the importer is a common citizen, not an oligarch,” he said.

Bagratyan considers the retail gasoline price may total AMD 350 ($0.92) instead of current 460-480 ($1.35) per liter.

“Oil cost $130 a barrel, but now the price goes down to $85. However, Armenian importers were not worried – price for one liter of gasoline went down by AMD 10 ($0.03) just for a while,” he emphasized.

According to him, another way to avoid inflation is to damp transfers, for instance the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) can purchase foreign currency adequate to transfers from abroad to avoid the influence on the exchange rate.

“They are curbing inflation only by pushing AMD exchange rate. What happens as a result of that? AMD inflation is curbed, while dollar inflation is going up,” said Bagratyan. “Representatives of the financial management once told me if they stop control, AMD would devaluate up to 440/$1 [instead of current AMD 367/$1], it will cause a high inflation rate. So, they prefer not to control economic competition, it is easier to keep down the inflation and rejoice at 3% deflation reached in July.”