YEREVAN, December 17. /ARKA/. Mark Horton, IMF newly appointed Resident Rrepresentative in Armenia, said today the full-year inflation will be within 9-10%.

He said the IMF did not have concrete data for December and depending on how prices might behave this month, the full year inflation is likely to rise to 9.5%, he said in response to a question from ARKA.

He added that the Central Bank is unlikely to control inflation shocks and it is evident that the Bank will not be able to secure either the projected inflation of 4% (±1.5%). He said it was expected that price hikes in agriculture would not be lasting, but they did last longer than expected.

Mark Horton said also IMF was watching price related trends in Russia, Georgia and Ukraine where they do not differ from Armenia.

According to the National Statistical Service, Armenian inflation rose to 7.9% in Jan.-October year-on-year. Earlier IMF forecasted a 6% full year inflation in Armenia in 2010. –0--