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.
