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• Tobacco Tycoon Threatens To Close Shop In Armenia 

Hrant Vartanian, a wealthy businessman who owns Armenia’s two main tobacco companies, warned on Thursday that he will close down his factories and move them abroad if the Armenian dram continues to appreciate against the dollar.

“We are now making plans to move some of our manufacturing operations to Georgia and Russia in order to produce things there and import them to Armenia,” he told RFE/RL. “If the dollar continues to fall at this pace, we will resort to that step in the next four or five months in order to save our business.”

The dram has gained more than 30 percent in value against the dollar in the last two and a half years, significantly raising production costs of local firms dependent on exports. Vartanian’s Grand Tobacco and International Masis Tobacco firms not only account for much of cigarette sales in Armenia but also sell a large part of their products, notably fermented tobacco leafs, abroad.

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