ArmInfo. Armenia's Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan promised to solve the problem of the debts to winegrowers of Aghavnadzor village in the upcoming 10-15 days. "Governor of Vayotz Dzor region and Head of "Vedi Alco" wine plant are currently in Aghavnadzor and the issue of repaying the debts is being discussed", Abrahamyan told journalists on September 1, commenting on the information that inhabitants of Aghavnadzor have not sent their children to school as a sign of protest and demand to repay debts for the last year's yield.
At the same time the Prime Minister noted that rumors that his promises to repay the debts have not been fulfilled are baseless and do not correspond to the facts.
To recall, Vedi Alco wine plant owes 140 mln AMD to the farmers for last year's yield.
To note, today in the morning inhabitants of Aghavnadzor village of Vayotz Dzor region of Armenia have blocked the entrance to school and have not allowed the students to enter it as a sign of protest of not settling the debt for their last year's yield. To note, this is not the first protest held by the villagers, earlier they had blocked roads of inter-state importance. Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan visited the village a month ago and promised that the problem will be solved. However, the villagers say that the problem has not been solved till now and they have to take this step.
Meanwhile, Director of Vedi Alco has repeatedly stated that they had to purchase grape following the calls by Prime Minister and Agriculture Minister and that they have no money to pay the villagers and they had warned that the payments may be delayed.
According to the Ranking of Armenia's Enterprises prepared by ArmInfo net profit of Vedi Alco CJSC in 2015 totaled 77.7 mln AMD growing 3.2-fold y-o-y overcoming downward trend. Revenues from sale declined in the reported year by 35% to 1.7 bln AMD and cost of sales by 42% to 1.1 bln, which formed gross income at the level of 585.3 mln AMD with 9% y-o-y decline. Selling expenses dropped in 2015 almost 3-fold to 71.7 mln AMD. The company's assets declined by 12.2% to 4.3 bln AMD.