Wednesday, March 18 2020 21:29

ArmInfo. The Armenian government will allocate 150 billion drams ($ 300 million) to improve the economy in connection with the consequences of the coronavirus and  this amount can be increased, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan  said in an interview with "Shant" TV channel.

However, he noted that the state is ready to invest "not in the past, but in the future''  and it is from this position that the government will be determined  in its decisions to provide support to certain sectors of the  economy. Pashinyan noted with confidence that agriculture will  certainly be one of such promising sectors, since, in any case,  <people need to eat> and here the country has great prospects for the  post-coronovirus world, where Armenia can take its rightful place,  satisfying global demand for food. <And we set the task in the near  future to start subsidizing agricultural loans, bringing their  interest rate to zero. Of course, it is important here to continue  financing such related areas as irrigation, construction of  reservoirs, etc.>, he emphasized. 

<We also prepared a package that in a few days can already be put  into practice. We will allocate 25 billion drams for the program,  according to which companies, which will take loans in Armenian banks  in drams for rent, to pay salaries to their employees and solve other  issues, will receive the same co-financing from the government at  zero interest rates. Moreover, the government will partially  subsidize this bank loan so that this rate also drops to zero>, said  Pashinyan.

As the prime minister said, in addition, a third package of 30  billion drams was prepared for urgent social assistance to exclude a  collapse in the standard of living of people. This will be purely  targeted assistance to extinguish a possible "social fire".  Because,  as Pashinyan noted, if our citizen due to this whole situation   (coronavirus - Ed.) will have to starve, then we will naturally help  him. And business should also be sure that the state and government  will stand by and support.  Pashinyan noted the complete uncertainty  of the "new world" into which we are entering.  <But our behavior  will not be conservative, it will be offensive. We are saying that  all those people who have ideas will now have the opportunity to  implement them. We invest in those projects that will be innovative  in the sense that these companies will prepare Armenia for the <new  world>. We are entering a new world, there will be no old one, but  the problem is that we do not know exactly what the post-coronavirus  world will be. And on the other hand, since unpredictability is very  large, we ourselves are able to try to design it, to outline it.  Therefore, the state will actively help and invest precisely in those  companies that will be occupied with designing a new world. Every  dram spent should be in the outline of this revolutionary logic>,  said Pashinyan.  "The global GDP will decrease by $ 2 trillion, and  if Armenia can somehow fill this void, it will be able to receive $  20 billion," Pashinyan noted.