The Armenian State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition keeps an eye on the large companies in the market, Chairman of the Commission Artak Shaboyan said in Parliament on March 25 when replying to Prosperous Armenia Party Faction Head Naira Zohrabyan.
Zohrabyan said that dairy, vegetables and fruit grow in price daily amid the large-scale poverty. Many stores ignore the legislation and refuse to accept the sold products back or even to exchange them for another products.
Shaboyan stressed that the Commission is concerned about the ungrounded price growth. In the rest of the cases, the market has free trade mechanisms that regulate the prices on the basis of demand and supply. The Commission keeps an eye on the large companies. Last year the product markets were monitored and some economic entities were reprimanded for violation of the anti-monopoly legislation.
According to the National Statistical Service of Armenia, in Feb 2015 the consumer market of Armenia saw 0.2% deflation (food products dropped in price by 0.7%, non-food items rose in price by 0.7% and the service tariffs grew by 0.2%). In Jan-Feb 2015, inflation reached 2.3% (versus 4.8% inflation in Jan-Feb 2014). InJan- Feb 2015, food products rose in price 3.8%, non-food items - by 1.2%, and service tariffs - by 0.8%.