At a Q&A today in parliament with administration representatives, Armenian Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan brushed aside charges that consumer prices were spiraling out of control and pointed to Armenia’s neighbors to back up his claim.

“Our official inflation rate is 2.6%. It’s 6.7% in Georgia and 7.9% in Azerbaijan,” noted Karapetyan.

The prime minister continued by saying that gasoline prices were also higher in Georgia than Armenia.

When Yelk Alliance MP Ararat Mirzoyan reminded Karapetyan that inflation had hit basic foodstuffs like butter, meat and potatoes, the prime minister said that butter prices were also increasing in other countries as well and that Armenia couldn’t buck the trend.

When asked about the work being carried out on the proposed new Iran-Armenia railway, Karapetyan said it would be built when trade between the two countries was sufficient to justify the cost of construction.

The prime minister failed to specify when this might happen.