Monday, September 16 2019 15:37

ArmInfo. Armenian Prime  Minister Nikol Pashinyan on September 16 at a regular press  conference in the Vanadzor Technology Center called the presentation  format "100 facts about New Armenia" very productive and presented  these 100 facts. The first 30 facts related to the socio-economic  outcomes of government activities. Thus, according to the prime  minister:

1. Over the 7 months of 2019, compared with the same period of 2018,  real GDP growth in Armenia amounted to 6.8% , the industrial sector  grew by 8.4%, construction recorded a 4.5% increase, trade turnover -  8.9%, services grew by 15%, average monthly salary - by 5.9%.

2. In the first quarter of this year, tax revenues recorded an  unprecedented increase of 25%. For the reporting period AMD 152  billion more taxes and duties have been collected compared with the  previous year.

3. Since May 2018 to this day, 65 thousand 37 jobs have been  identified (an increase of 12%). 11 thousand 536 of those employees  receive wages up to 150 thousand drams, salaries ranging from 150  thousand to 2 million drams are received by 52 thousand people, more  than 2 million are earned by 627 citizens. The overwhelming majority  earn in the range from 150 thousand to 2 million drams, for this  group of persons for the period from May 2018 to August this year  salaries in the amount of 22 billion 150 million drams were paid.  "The average monthly salary of employees in this segment is  approximately 400 thousand drams," he said. "In general, over the  reporting period, new employees paid income tax in the amount of 6  billion drams," Pashinyan said.

4. For January-June 2019, obligatory payments to the "Fund of 1000  drams" exceeded the last year indicator for the same period by AMD  347.8 million or by 9.6%.

5. In the first 8 months of 2019, 38.5% or 76.4 million more till  slips of cash registers were printed than for the same period in  2018. Additional recorded turnover amounted to 208.6 billion drams or  21.6%.

6. In the first half of 2019, 1000 large taxpayers paid 14.3% or 64  billion drams more to the state budget than the same period last  year. In January-June 2019, they paid more than 511 billion drams to  the state budget compared to 446 billion drams for the same period of  2018. The first ten largest taxpayers paid 131.4 billion drams to the  state budget in overall, or about 26% of the taxes paid by 1000 major  taxpayers of the country. Thus, according to the prime minister, most  of the companies that occupy the top of the list of 1000 large  taxpayers of a certain public interest in the first half of 2019,  compared to the same period last year, significantly increased the  total taxes paid to the state budget. In particular, the Flash  company in the first half of 2019, compared to the first half of last  year, paid 2.8 billion drams or 58% more taxes. The ''Ucom "company  exceeded the amount of tax payments by 1 billion drams or by 26%,  Natali Pharm - 0.7 billion drams or 37%, Spayka - 1.4 billion drams  or 117%, Sas-Group - 0.9 billion or 82%, Max Petrol company - 2.2  billion drams or 122%, Zangezur Copper-Molybdenum Combine - 4.9  billion drams or 20%, Gazprom Armenia -2.1 billion drams or 10 %,  "Electric Networks of Armenia" - 1.3 billion drams or 20%.

7. As of June 2019, the number of active taxpayers- business entities  in Armenia increased by 24,500 or 14.4% compared with the same period  of the previous year. For the first 8 months, 15614 new entrepreneurs  (individual entrepreneurs) were registered, 4653- LLC, 89 - CJSC.

8. According to the report published by Moody's Investors Service on  August 27, this international rating agency has upgraded the  Government of Armenia's local and foreign currency long-term issuer  and foreign currency senior unsecured debt ratings to Ba3 from B1-  the forecast was changed from " Positive "to" Stable. " In  particular, in the coming years, economic growth in the range of  5.5-6% is forecasted, which will be mainly due to growth in tourism,  information technology and light industry. As a result of these  structural changes, the agency forecasts a decrease in the volatility  of economic growth, in contrast to the situation recorded in previous  years.

9. Inbound tourism indicators increased by 12%. In particular, 39.5%  more tourists came from Germany to Armenia, from China - by 53.5%,  from the Netherlands - 34.9%, Switzerland - 30%, UAE - 29.7%, Greece  - 29%, Italy - 24.4%, Great Britain - 22.9%, Japan - 22.2%, Russia -  19% Sweden - 19%, USA - 15%, France - 13%. According to the Central  Bank, as a whole for January-August this year they spent $ 200  million more than in the same period in 2018.

10. In January-June, the number of tourists accommodated in hotel  facilities in Armenia increased by 60%.  If in 2018 only 20% or 140  thousand tourists chose hotels, then this year already 29% - 222  thousand people.

11. Armenia rose to 79th place in the global tourism competitiveness  rating. So, according to the Prime Minister, within two years Armenia  upgraded its rating immediately by five points in the World Traveland  Tourism Competitiveness Report-2019 - from the 84th to the 79th  place.

12. Following the results of 7 months of this year, Armenia was able  to overcome the negative trends in the export line and the decline  turned into growth of 3%. In particular, in July alone, exports grew  by 19%. In total, over 7 months, exports grew by $ 42.5 million.

13. Interesting trends were also registered in agriculture. Thus,  over 8 months the area of greenhouses increased by 48% or 426  hectares, land plots on drip irrigation - by 56% or 104 hectares,  anti-hail networks were established by 94.5% (180.2 hectares) more  farmers than in the reporting period 2018 of the year. The capacity  of refrigeration facilities increased by 26%  to 11.5 thousand tons.

14.  In January-June 2019, mortgage loans were provided for AMD 84.5  billion more than in the same period of 2018, exceeding last year's  figure by 90.5%

15. In July 2019, the number of real estate transactions increased by  17.1%.

16. In August 2019, for the first time, since 2015, a tendecne in  decrease in the external public debt of Armenia was recorded. As of  June 2019 the external public debt decreased by $ 120 million, or  2.1%.

17. As of the end of August 2019, the international reserves of  Armenia amounted to $ 2.3 billion drams, exceeding last year's figure  by $ 230 million. The current level of reserves, as Pashinyan pointed  out, is the highest since 2013, and that, according to him, was due  to the issue of Armenian Eurobonds.

18. For 2018-2019 due to improved tax administration, the shadow  economy has declined significantly. As the prime minister pointed  out, this is evidenced by an increase in taxes in GDP, which is  expected to grow by 1,301.5 pp by the end of the year - up to  22.3-22.5% of GDP. As a result, according to Pashinyan, the  government expects the shadow to shrink by 3%.

19. Inflation in Armenia remains at a low, manageable level. Most  importantly, with low volatility. Thus, according to Pashinyan, in  January-July the average inflation amounted to 1.9%, and the 12-month  rate reached 1.7%. "This is ensured by a consistent increase in  confidence in the national currency recently, which is also reflected  in a reduction in inflationary expectations on the part of  households," the prime minister said. As the head of government  pointed out, according to a survey conducted by the Central Bank,  almost all respondents (more than 95% according to the second quarter  of 2019) expect that price stability will also continue in the future  (in the context of 1-5 years), which is very important for  macroeconomic stability. "This means that households and  organizations can much better plan their economic activities, as well  as ongoing savings and investments," the Prime Minister said.  According to the head of the cabinet, the increase in confidence in  the national currency was also reflected in the consistent reduction  in the level of dollarization. Over the past year, the indicator  declined by about 4 percentage points, reaching 48.6% in July (the  ratio of foreign currency deposits of residents to total deposits of  residents). "This means that the majority of Armenian citizens -  51.4% prefer to keep their money in banks in drams, which is also  very important, since it reduces the currency risks of business  entities and helps to further improve the stability of the financial  system," Pashinyan noted.

20. The Government of Armenia amended the Tax Code and the package of  related laws. The annual turnover tax level of 115 million drams for  VAT will be restored, but only for those taxpayers who, before the  changes came into force, did not exceed the established level of  58.35 million drams. The document takes into account the interests of  vehcle importers - individuals. The rule obliging them to pay 20%  income tax on the sale of the 2nd car from June 1, 2018 will be  revised and reduced to 1% of the price of a car, but not less than  150 drams for each horsepower. The norm will be given retroactive  effect - from July 1, 2018, which will allow recalculating the tax  debt accumulated since the new tax regulation came into force.  Private taxi drivers acting as individuals will be exempted from  paying the state fee. The concept of micro-enterprises with an  exempted threshold of up to 24 million drams has been introduced. A  single income tax rate of 23% has also been established - regardless  of the amount of wages. As a result, the salary of about 200 thousand  citizens will increase. From 2020 to 2022 the government also  proposes to introduce equal income tax and dividend tax rates for  Armenian citizens and foreigners, setting them also at 23% (from 20%  to 18% income tax and from 10% to 5% dividend tax - Ed.note) . Real  estate transactions between individuals are exempted from income tax.

21. Of the 159 newly established technology companies, 113 received a  certificate of tax exemption. Until 2022, within the framework of  this program, 1000-1200 jobs will be created with an average monthly  salary of 500 thousand drams.

22. During January-August 2018, the government provided tax benefits  in the form of exemption from VAT for 12 investment programs with a  budget of 34.9 billion drams, which are expected to provide 813 jobs  for citizens of the country. 19 investment projects worth 44.6  billion drams were exempted from customs duties, within the framework  of which 1271 jobs are expected to be created. For the same period of  2019, an application was approved for exemption from VAT for 9  investment programs totaling 95.5 billion drams (969 jobs are  planned), 40 investment programs with a budget of 153 billion drams  were exempted from customs duties (2835 jobs).

23. The Armenian government will return to 2835 economic entities a  debit balance of 56 billion drams from VAT. "This is in fact an  injection of more than $ 100 million into the economy," the prime  minister said.

24. 141 newcomers to business in the regions of Armenia took part in  entrepreneurship courses organized by the Small and Medium  Entrepreneurship Development National Center (SME DNC). Of the 104  business projects presented, 74 will receive financial assistance  from the SME DNC up to 5 million drams in the form of a credit  guarantee.

25. In January-July 2019, the interest rate on mortgages decreased by  0.2 percentage points, agricultural loans by 0.7 percentage points,  and consumer loans by 0.3 percentage points.

26. This year, about 23.2 billion drams will be allocated for  subvention programs, of which the government will allocate 12.9  billion drams, and co-financing of communities will amount to 10.9  billion drams. Funds will be allocated to road construction and  repair programs, construction / repair of kindergartens, irrigation  and water supply programs and the establishment of energy-saving  systems.

27. Vehicle Customs House will be relocated in Gyumri. The government  allocated 181 million drams and a land plot of 21.5 hectares for  these purposes.

28. The Armenian government will over fulfill the annual plan for  secondary and capital repairs of roads.  Already today, of the 330 km  road construction works envisaged by the annual plan, 70 km of  secondary and major repairs have been completed, 307.2 km of work is  ongoing. In addition, work is underway within the framework of  subvention programs, the North-South investment program.

29. The Government of Armenia made an unprecedented decision to hold  events dedicated to the Independence Day of the Republic of Armenia  in the regions of the country. The beginning of the tradition will be  given on September 21 in Gyumri.

30. Thanks to cooperation with the French Embassy in Armenia, the  issue of urban transport in Echmiadzin was resolved.

31. Defense spending in 2019 increased by about 26% - to 313.2  billion drams, against 247.8 billion drams.

32. The Armenian government will allocate an additional 2.1 billion  drams ($ 4.2 million) to improve the conditions of combat duty of  military personnel at combat positions, including combat positions  will be provided with drinking running water. "By the end of the  year, 30-35% of combat positions will be provided with drinking  water," he said.

To note, it was originally planned that the next - the 6th major  press conference of the Prime Minister will be held in Gyumri. But  then the head of government on his page announced plans to hold a  meeting with the media in Vanadzor, as he had already "several times  conducted various visits and events in Gyumri, and two more major  events are planned there this year."