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Weakening Armenian dram causes tangible damages to small and medium businesses
YEREVAN, December 20. / ARKA /. The strengthening of USD and euro
against Armenian dram triggering a rise in prices of commodities has
caused tangible damages to the small and medium-sized businesses,
according to Ani Hovhanisyan, director of Analitik think-tank.
Speaking at a news conference today she said these are small and
medium companies which are engaged in imports and those that have
dollar-denominated loans. She urged the authorities to pay greater
attention to this segment.
"Today, we have no studies that could show which of companies are more
solvent, which are in a critical condition and so on," she said.
According to Ani Hovhanisyan, to help small businesses to overcome
this crisis the government should cut the current rate of their income
tax which is 24.4%.
"The increase in prices makes employers raise wages of employees to
prevent them from leaving to join bigger companies," said Hovhanisyan.
She argued that 1.5 billion drams released by the government this year
to support small and medium businesses by conducting various
consultations, training, etc gave no tangible result.
"We believe that the amount should have been used to establish a fund
for covering financial losses of small and medium-sized businesses, in
particular, from currency fluctuations," said Hovhanisyan
According to the Union of Armenian Employers, there are now about
70,000 SMEs of which 58,000 are micro and small enterprises, and
10,000 are medium companies. Together they account for 43% of
Armenia's GDP.
In mid-October, economy minister Karen Chshmarityan said government
wants to help increase this share to at least 50%. -0-
http://arka.am/en/news/economy/weakening_armenian_dram_causes_tangible_damages_to _small_and_medium_businesses/#sthash.HR7ChjRB.dpuf
YEREVAN, December 20. / ARKA /. The strengthening of USD and euro
against Armenian dram triggering a rise in prices of commodities has
caused tangible damages to the small and medium-sized businesses,
according to Ani Hovhanisyan, director of Analitik think-tank.
Speaking at a news conference today she said these are small and
medium companies which are engaged in imports and those that have
dollar-denominated loans. She urged the authorities to pay greater
attention to this segment.
"Today, we have no studies that could show which of companies are more
solvent, which are in a critical condition and so on," she said.
According to Ani Hovhanisyan, to help small businesses to overcome
this crisis the government should cut the current rate of their income
tax which is 24.4%.
"The increase in prices makes employers raise wages of employees to
prevent them from leaving to join bigger companies," said Hovhanisyan.
She argued that 1.5 billion drams released by the government this year
to support small and medium businesses by conducting various
consultations, training, etc gave no tangible result.
"We believe that the amount should have been used to establish a fund
for covering financial losses of small and medium-sized businesses, in
particular, from currency fluctuations," said Hovhanisyan
According to the Union of Armenian Employers, there are now about
70,000 SMEs of which 58,000 are micro and small enterprises, and
10,000 are medium companies. Together they account for 43% of
Armenia's GDP.
In mid-October, economy minister Karen Chshmarityan said government
wants to help increase this share to at least 50%. -0-
http://arka.am/en/news/economy/weakening_armenian_dram_causes_tangible_damages_to _small_and_medium_businesses/#sthash.HR7ChjRB.dpuf