YEREVAN, October 25. /ARKA/. Armenian authorities are making every effort now to solve inflation-related problems, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said Saturday after visiting the newly opened sugar factory in Akhuryan, Shirak province.

He told journalists that the growing inflation is being widely discussed now, and the authorities are deeply concerned about the matter.

According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, inflation in the country stood at 4.7% in September 2010, compared with December 2009, but surged to 8.6% compared with the previous year’s September and to 7.8% in Jan-Sept 2010, compared with the same period a year earlier.

“I won’t try to connect this process with world prices and weather, since although causes are clear, this is a bad phenomenon, and we should intensify our struggle against it,” the president’s press office quoted him as saying.

“At the same time, I can’t promise that we will increase wages and pensions considerably the next year and that things will be put right in the beginning of the coming year,” the head of state said. “The new budget implies a ten-percent enlargement of military servicemen’s salaries. Culture workers and teachers’ salaries as well as pensions will be raised.”

However, he said, this problem solution is a time-consuming process.

“The only way out of the situation is to build such factories not only in Akhuryan, but also across the country, to create stable and high-paid jobs. If everything goes this way, our people will solve the inflation problem by working.”

Sargsyan said that no great achievements are expected in this area, but the authorities, acknowledging the gravity of this trouble, are doing whatever necessary to improve the situation. -0--