“It is possible to play games with the numbers and the data but I believe that we must have concrete criteria. How much does the proposed budget affect the Armenian citizen’s living conditions, how much does his living standard change, improve?” said ARF-D Parliamentary Faction’s Secretary Artashes Shahbazyan during the discussions about the 2012 state budget. Shahbazyan added that if those criteria are not met then every other discussion is pointless and called his colleagues not to kid themselves. The ARF-D MP mentioned that in the past four years no raise has been made as far as the salaries are concerned except from a small adjustment which was made in accordance to the inflation and which cannot be perceived as a real raise. “Until when should we wait?” he wondered. Referring to the decrease of transfers Shahbazyan said that it’s a shame for the people to put their hopes on money from abroad in order to secure a living and concluded saying that ARF-D will vote against the proposed budget draft.