YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 10, ARMENPRESS. Statistical data shows that at no point did the pandemic cause social crisis in Armenia, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Cabinet meeting on September 10.

He did however note that the coronavirus pandemic caused significant social and economic damages.

He said that the cash register printout data from across the country can be used to analyze the social condition in the country.

“I believe the trade turnover data with the cash register printouts can show this because this is about what people are buying. Compared to August 2019 the cash register printout turnover in August 2020 dropped only 2.5%.Moreover, we’ve reached this low indicator just now, it was higher since March, now it is dropping. This number in itself shows that, indeed, we have problems, but we certainly don’t have a social collapse and a social crisis,” the PM said.

He noted that some might voice counterarguments that in 2019 August many people were abroad for seasonal employment, whereas they didn’t travel there this year due to the closed borders. But on the other hand, the PM said that this year there hasn’t been any tourist flow to Armenia, tourists who reasonably spend more than locals in Armenia. “In addition, theaters, museums aren’t working, the hotels in Yerevan are empty. These numbers show that there was no social crisis in Armenia, it never happened. Certainly it is obvious that a worsening of the social situation exists, we’ve lost economic growth, we had 9 economic activity index in January and February,” he said.

Pashinyan said the country avoided a social crisis also due to the government’s relief actions when a total of 163,4 billion drams was injected into the economy.

Editing and Translating by Stepan Kocharyan