Armenia’s ex-premier on ‘oligarchic tranformation’.

The bill restricting cash transactions is an attempt to turn importer oligarchs into financial oligarchs rather than a means of shadow control, Armenia’s ex-premier Hrant Bagratyan told journalists on Friday.

“It is our problem now that this man worked for a bank, and the agricultural sector is in charge of a machine-operator,” Bagratyan said, alluding to Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan and Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan.

“They say that transactions worth more than three million should be effected by means of banks. Tigran Sargsyan is making them financial oligarchs,” Bargaryan said.

He recalled the installation of cash registers, which, according to him, did not at all increase budget revenues.

To susbstantiate his statements, Mr Bagratyan referrs to a 2011 report by Transparency International. According to the report, shadow economy’s share was 53% in Armenia.

According to Bagratyan, that figure is the same as in 1996, when the Nagorno-Karabakh war had just ended and Armenia was a young state.