YEREVAN, MARCH 6, NOYAN TAPAN. The consequences of the global financial and economic crisis will become visible in Armenia in the autumn, while the spring of 2010 will be the hardest period, the director of Sociometer center Aharon Adibekian made a forecast at the March 6 press conference. According to him, Armenia will suffer the main loss because of a fall in exports and construction work. The purchasing capacity of the population will decline as a result of decreased remittanches from abroad. Besides, due to their poor financial state, famers will have difficulty buying seeds, fertlizers, equipment, which will affect negatively this year's harvest. "The 150 thousand-strong army of the disabled will also have serious problems as the prices of medicines will rise," the sociologist said. He announced that the recent surveys conducted by their center show that the notion of the society about the standard of living of Armenian citizens differs considerably from the government's notion. For example, the government considers a person receiving 19.4 thousand drams a month as poor, whereas the society considers one with an income of 25 thousand drams as poor. By official data, those with a monthly income of 32 thousand drams are well-off persons, whereas people consider those with an income of 85-200 thousand drams as well-to-do.

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