Duty free stores may be exempted from cashless payment requirement

YEREVAN, November 28. /ARKA/. The chairman of an Armenian parliamentary committee on economic issues Babken Tunyan from the ruling Civil Contract party presented today a bill that calls for exempting duty free stores from the requirement that all transactions worth more than 300,000 drams be paid through banks.

According to him, one of the reasons behind the bill is that duty free stores can also accept payments in foreign currencies.

Tunyan noted that trade turnover in these stores has intensified largely due to people who go to Russia and have problems with paying by cards. According to him, the departing peiople buy largely Armenian products.

Tunyan asked the committee on budget and fiscal issues to put off consideration of the bill for two months because of technical issues that need to be clarified with the government, but added that if possible, the bill should go through the parliament as fast as possible.

The Armenian law on non-cash payments that took effect on July 1, 2022, requires that private firms and individual entrepreneurs carry out transactions worth more than 300,000 drams ($700) only through the banking system.

For other citizens the limit is set at 500,000 drams. But it will be brought down to 300,000 drams in July 2023. The law also prohibits local and central government agencies from making or accepting any payments in cash.

This year the law is being applied in the capital Yerevan only; in 2023 it will be extended to regional centers, and in 2024 to all of Armenia. -0-