YEREVAN. – Armenia’s Ministry of Finance commented on the information disseminated by the press that Minister Vache Gabrielyan had instructed his employees to bring two toys each, to decorate the Ministry’s Christmas tree. 

The Ministry’s respective statement specifically reads:

“The initiative to jointly decorate the Finance Ministry’s Christmas tree was that of its several employees. The Ministry has more than 650 employees, and therefore if each of them were to be instructed to bring two toys each, they [the toys] would have been enough to also decorate the Christmas tree at [capital Yerevan’s] Republic Square. We regret that this initiative, with such united New Year’s meaning, was perceived by several of the Ministry employees, and the media labeled it with a cordiality that is totally inappropriate for the New Year.”      

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, Armenia’s Minister of Finance, Vache Gabrielyan, has thought about a way to save budget and personal spending, Hraparak daily wrote. “He instructed all Ministry staff to bring along two Christmas tree toys each, to decorate the Ministry’s Christmas tree. [But] when they sensed that the employees were complaining, they said: ‘Okay, can’t you decorate the tree with your own hands?’ People at the Finance Ministry believe their Christmas tree will be the world’s tackiest Christmas tree,” Hraparak wrote.