⭐ Merited by galkina (1)
I did not understood merit fulfill yet. I was reading past few comments in this thread, but didn't find any concrete information. So, by your words if you do not give or get Merit your rank's raise is kinda going to be frozen, is it really so? Prove or unprove this to me somebody, please 
If you continue with this attitude you will be a live proof with frozen rank yourself. Regarding your question, you need to get merits to rank up. Giving merits has nothing to do with ranks.