ArmInfo. In recent years, there has been a tendency for a gradual transition of the kind of activity of small and medium-sized businesses in Armenia from trade to production. This April 16, answering the question ArmInfo, said the executive director of the National Center for SME Development (SMEDNC) Levon Mnatsakanyan.
In particular, he stressed that the overwhelming majority of beneficiaries of the programs implemented by SMEDNC are engaged in the processing of agricultural products, the production of dried fruits, and the development of greenhouse farms. In addition, given the continued growth of tourism in Armenia, the activity of SMEs is growing in the service sector, in particular, according to him, the hotel business - guest houses and hostels are very actively developing.
On the comment of ArmInfo on the unchanged dynamics of SMEs in the GDP structure, L. Mnatsaknyan noted: "This is due to the specifics of the structure of our economy, where GDP is heavily influenced by large enterprises. But this does not mean that we do not intend to do anything in this direction. The purpose of our work is to strengthen the role of SMEs, so that by increasing the volume of their services and goods, they will also increase their share in GDP, "he said.
The head of the National Center noted that the registered indicators within the framework of the programs implemented by SMEDNC following the results of 2017 exceeded expectations. Mnatsakanyan said that over 4,700 SMEs were provided with 11 thousand different kinds of services - financial, informational, consultative, technical. "Growth of incomes of participants of our programs, 95% of which are located in communities, reached 17% in the last year," the head of SMEDNC said. With regard to financial assistance, he said, 79 credit guarantees were provided for 500 million drams. Of the beneficiaries that received funding, 64 accounted for start-ups. In particular, in 2017 82 new enterprises were registered and, as Mnatsakanyan said, all of them successfully implement their own business without exception. In conclusion, he noted that following the results of 2017, within the framework of the National Center for SME Development, 320 jobs were created, the vast majority of which are in the regions.