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.
