Armenian government subsidizes up to 10 billion dram lease of equipment by manufacturing enterprises

YEREVAN, January 27. /ARKA/. The Armenian government has amended today a program developed to modernize the country’s economy, saying that under the changes manufacturing enterprises will be awarded government subsidies to upgrade their equipment.

"It's no secret that Armenia's economy needs deep modernization and increased productivity. The changes are meant to encourage business entities to start large-scale renovation of their machinery and production lines," Economy Minister Vahan Kerobyan said.

He said according to the amendments, the government will subsidize the companies’ up to 10 billion dram loans and lease of equipment.

"Of course the terms will be different depending on the type of enterprise, but it is very important that we don't limit ourselves to small modernizations, but enable companies to renew their equipment. The amount of subsidies will depend on the companies’ capital replenishment over the past 2 years," said Kerobyan.

According to the minister, the subsidizing period for loans and leasing of up to 200 million drams is 72 months (6 years), and up to 48 months (4 years) for amounts over 200 million drams. The repayment period for both is up to 10 years.

"We subsidize the purchase of devices, equipment and components at 7% in case of loans, 10% in case of leasing (in AMD), and for loans and leasing in foreign currency 6% and 8% respectively," he said.

Kerobyan said that this is a big step towards attracting investments on favorable terms and attracting new investors to Armenia. He added that in order to participate in the program, beneficiaries are only allowed to use new, preferably energy efficient machinery, both locally produced and imported. ($1 - 482.47 AMD). --0--