Armenian NPP will receive a budget loan of $ 130 million

ArmInfo. The Armenian Nuclear  Power Plant will be provided with a budget loan of 63.2 billion drams  (about $ 130 million). The decision on this was made at a meeting of  the RA government on June 11.

According to the Minister of Territorial Administration and  Infrastructures of the Republic of Armenia Suren Papikyan, the state  budget funds will be provided to complete the program to extend the  life of the second power unit of the ANPP. Earlier, Armenia raised a  loan of $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30 million from the Russian  Federation to implement the program, and as of today, the remaining  resource of these funds was $ 107 million. For objective and  subjective reasons, it was not possible to agree with Russian  partners on this residual resource. For this reason, a decision was  made to attract a budget loan of 63 billion drams. In 2020, the  Armenian nuclear power plant will receive 18.7 billion drams from  these funds, in 2021 - 31.5 billion drams and in 2022 - 13 billion  drams. The maturity of each tranche is 12 years, of which the first 2  years will be preferential. The interest rate will be equivalent to  the interest rate of borrowed funds of the Russian Federation raised  earlier. The loan will be repaid twice a year in equal proportions on  June 25 and December 25 of each year, and interest will be paid from  December 25, 2020 with semi-annual payments on June 25 and December  25 of each year. The loan is provided without collateral.  The  Ministry of Finance of the country within the framework of the  program will issue state treasury bonds.  Within the framework of the  project, it is also planned to form an interdepartmental tender  commission, which will carry out all competitive procedures and  control the process of program implementation.

In his turn, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol  Pashinyan stated that the loan conditions provided by the Russian  Federation were inconvenient for the Armenian side for the  organization of work at the station. As a result, Armenia was forced  to abandon the rest of the borrowed funds. Providing a budget loan  will make it possible to increase the efficiency of its use and  increase the station's capabilities.  Earlier, in fact, there were  restrictions on purchases - from whom and on what conditions to  purchase goods. Now market relations will apply, the purchase of  goods will be carrried out at competitive prices, taking into account  their quality.

Previously, Suren Papikyan noted that the new authorities of the  country inherited credit programs, which either expired or were in  the process of expiration. At this stage, a large amount of work has  been performed at the NPP unit. However, as a result of a number of  procedural problems, for objective and subjective reasons, the new  authorities once again inherited an already late program. Serious  lateness in terms of time is obvious. Last year, the issue of  extending the loan repayment terms and providing a new grace period  was actively discussed, but this did not happen. Thus, as the  minister noted, the Armenian side refused this loan and will attract  its own resources.

There are agreements with Rosatom on the continuation of work that  will already be carried out according to the internal procedures of  Armenia. According to the minister, this will enable Armenian  specialists to be involved in the implementation of the program,  which is very important in the conditions of the economic crisis  caused by the coronavirus pandemic. He also stated that the new  authorities inherited a loan agreement, which should either be waived  or renewed. It is impossible to refuse, because there are works that  have started, but have not been implemented, and it is important for  the state to bring them to their logical end.