Data released by the Armenian government’s Statistical Committee shows particularly drastic increases in the prices of not only imported staple foodstuffs such as cooking oil and sugar but also vegetables mostly grown in the country.
The average cost of vegetables was up by as much as 40 percent year on year in December. This resulted in large measure from last June’s unusually hot and dry weather that hit domestic agriculture hard.
The Statistical Committee also reported more than 10 percent increases in the prices of bread, cereals and dairy products.
The rising food prices, which reflect a global trend, pushed up overall inflation to 7.7 percent in December, well above a 4 percent target set by the government and the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) for 2021.
The CBA raised its key interest rate for six times in the course of 2021 in a bid to curb the higher-than-projected inflation which picked at 9.6 percent in November.
Although the increased cost of food products hit low-income households particularly hard, the government remains in no rush to raise the country’s minimum wage that currently stands at 68,000 drams ($142).
Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ruben Sargsian said in November that the government is planning to gradually bring the minimum wage to 86,000 drams by 2026. It will “take the first steps” in that direction in 2023, he said.
Opposition groups are demanding a quick and sharp wage increase. A bill circulated by the main opposition Hayastan alliance on Tuesday would raise the minimum wage to 100,000 drams starting from July.
According to the Statistical Committee, the median monthly wage in Armenia reached 202,000 drams ($420) in November, up by 10 percent year on year.