Monday, June 25 2018 19:02

ArmInfo. The turnover of SMEs in Armenia in 2017 increased by 14.2% to 1920.3 billion drams or 34.4% of GDP. This is stated in the annual study of the office of business support, financed by the EBRD - "The role of SMEs in the  economy of Armenia".

According to the source, in the structure of active taxpayers the  share of SMEs is 77% or 82 209 companies. At the same time, the share  of active taxpayers in the general list of taxpayers reached 59.2% or  106,596 companies, which is 5 593 more than the figure of a year ago.

In Armenia, SMEs provided 246,702 jobs, which is 8,391 jobs more than  a year earlier. In other words, the share of SMEs accounted for 30.3%  of the total number of jobs (excluding workplaces in state bodies).

However, the structure and geography of SMEs is still unchanged. The  main area of activity for SMEs is retail and wholesale (57%), while  the share of SMEs in services has increased from 17% to 21%. In  particular, the number of registered employees in the trade sector  reached 46,954 (annual growth of 1,311), of which 95% is  micro-business. The number of SMEs engaged in agriculture increased  by 84.8%, in the sphere of warehousing and transportation - by 67.7%,  culture, entertainment and recreation - by 22.3%. The overwhelming  majority of SMEs (52.8%) are located in Yerevan, 8% - in Kotayk, 6.8%  - in Armavir, 5.3% - in Ararat.

The number of business entities that are representatives of IT  start-ups, family businesses, and located in border villages, working  on preferential terms, in 2017 amounted to 2,536, which are partially  exempt from tax obligations. The number of SMEs that operate in the  border areas increased by 11%, IT startups - by 111% and family  business - by 74.5%.

According to the survey, 66% of SMEs or 54 331 are subject to VAT. In  2017, revenues from the turnover tax increased by 18% or 2.8 billion  drams. At the same time, taxes paid to SMEs in 2017 decreased by 2.3%  per annum or 4.9 billion drams, amounting to 209.4 billion drams. The  share of SME tax payments in the total structure of tax revenues  decreased to 16.7%, compared to 19.8% in 2016. The number of working  SMEs for the reporting period increased by 5 046 or 6.5%, which is  the highest in the five-year period.