Head of RA Premier`s staff responds to Narek Karapetyan 

ArmInfo. Arayik Harutyunyan, Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia, responded to statements by Narek Karapetyan, coordinator of the "Our Way"  movement, that the expenses of the Prime Minister's Office exceed the  combined expenses of the royal families of Spain, Denmark, Sweden,  and Belgium.

"A person who accuses others of plunder and forgets that he himself  has plundered should remember that he quadrupled the Prime Minister's  Office's expenses, bringing them to $65 million. Have Armenian  citizens really become four times better off if the Prime Minister's  Office earns four times more?" Karapetyan asked yesterday during a  Facebook live broadcast. Arayit Harutyunyan responded to Narek  Karapetyan in the same vein. During a Facebook live broadcast, he  stated that "international financiers have become addicted to such  crude and inaccurate calculations," but he urges "Narek Jan" not to  do so.

"Firstly, it is absurd to compare the budgets of royal families with  the budget of the head of state, since, for example, the budgets of  the royal house and Denmark do not include expenses for inspection  bodies, the office of the Commissioner for Diaspora Affairs, or the  Security Council. He says, "four times, that's a lie," Harutyunyan  said.

He recalled the budgets of the Prime Minister's Office, the  government, and the presidential administration in 2010, when Narek  Karapetyan's father was the chief of staff of President Serzh  Sargsyan.

"In 2010, this figure was 29 billion drams." "In 2026, the combined  budgets of the president and the prime minister's office will amount  to approximately 27 billion drams.  And this is nothing more than a  blatant lie," Harutyunyan stated.

Harutyunyan also presented the proportions of the overall state  budget. "In 2010, this amount was 3.1% of the 950 billion drams  budget, and this year it's 0.8%. We've increased the budget four  times since your father's time," he emphasized, noting that the  authorities "need a good opposition." "You are a bad opposition, and  for the government, a good opposition means a healthy environment and  progress," he concluded.