I think the natural gas tariff will rise by AMD 10-15,” representative of the Bureau of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun political party for Economic Studies, economist Suren Parsyan told Tert.am and reminded that the existing tariff is AMD 139 per cubic meter in case of consumption of up to 10,000 cubic meters of natural gas.

“After GazProm Armenia lowered the price of 1,000 cubic meters of natural gas by $15 when Karen Karapetyan was Prime Miniser and raised the price of natural gas on the border by $15 starting from January 1, 2019, the natural gas supplier dropped the tariff at the expense of profit and investments. Gazprom Armenia has to submit a bid to bring back the $30. I think the tariff will increase in the amount of AMD 10-15 for the population,” the economist said.

According to him, the natural gas price hike will have a chain effect and will lead to the rise of the price of electricity since nearly 30% of power is produced at thermal power stations. “The increase of the prices of natural gas and electricity will have a direct impact on the prices of goods and services in Armenia. It is not by chance that the government foresees a 4.5% inflation in the 2020 State Budget which is nearly twice as much compared with 2019,” he noted.