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At October 27 sitting, the parliament debated the issue of the election for the member of the Central Bank (CB) Council.

The NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs nominated Artak Manukyan’s candidacy. The issue was debated by the established order of Article 135 of the Constitutional Law the NA Rules of Procedure.

The Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan presented the candidate’s biographical data, the professional skills and the working path.

The candidate for the CB Council member Artak Manukyan presented the priorities of his activities on being elected. They relate to the implementation of the financial projects, the elaboration of the united criteria, the works directed to the digitalization agenda service, the implementation of the development programmes of the capital market and its comparative monitoring and the financial education programmes. Artak Manukyan highlighted the need of improving the dialogue with the public with regards to discussing the problems of the sphere. In the advancement of the green economy agenda the candidate has underlined the toolset use of the additional boosting of the green bonds, noting that there are still works to be done in this issue.

Answering to the MPs’ questions, Artak Manukyan touched upon the role of the CB in overcoming the inflation consequences, the control of the macro-economic environment, the regulation of the crypto-currencies, the importance of keeping the professional specialists of the sphere in the country, the purchase process and other problems. The question of the NA Deputy Speaker Hakob Arshakyan related to the electronic trade turnover and the payment means. It has been noted that in the shops with small turnover of the capital and in the regional ones the electronic payment system almost does not work. Artak Manukyan has opined that more strategic programmes are implemented on this part. According to him, the non-cash turnover is the most important tool promoting the growth transparency, which has no alternative.

In their speeches the legislators spoke about the candidate’s professional qualities, the problems existing in the field, touched upon steps directed to the reasons of price increase of some goods, the purchase process and the competition holding, the rise of the minimum salary, etc.

Expressing the viewpoint of the NA Civil Contract Faction, Hayk Konjoryan highly assessed Artak Manukyan’s human qualities and professional capacities. The Head of the Faction informed that they would vote for the nominated candidacy.

In his final speech the candidate for the CB Council member Artak Manukyan touched upon some observations voiced during the speeches, particularly the purchase process and the role of the CB in the price stability. Not denying the fact that because of inflation there is social certain tension, Artak Manukyan emphasized the organization of the public discussions with the participation of the representatives of the CB, Ministry of Economy and the Competition Protection Commission in parliament, during which the public would receive the answers to the concerning questions.

The NA Speaker Alen SImonyan has noted that, pursuant to Article 145.10 of the NA Rules of Procedure law, the member of the CB Council is elected by secret ballot with the majority of the votes of the deputies’ total number.

The Chair of the Counting Committee Narek Babayan presented the order, the time and the venue of the voting.