ArmInfo.With the lifting of the embargo on the import of Turkish goods, the Armenian government has developed numerous programs to support local producers. Minister of Economy of Armenia Vahan Kerobyan announced this during an interview on January 18.
In particular, the Minister said that the programs are aimed not only at updating the fixed assets of manufacturing companies, but also at improving internal corporate business processes. According to Kerobyan, one of the first programs will deal with digital transformation and increasing the productivity of enterprises.
At the same time, he expressed the strange thought that since the beginning of November last year, there have been extensive discussions about whether to maintain the embargo on the import of Turkish goods or abandon it. Various opinions were heard, but no final decision was made. According to Kerobyan, people who understand business supposedly realized even then that the likelihood of lifting the embargo was very high, that the authorities would not extend it.
From the point of view of the export of Armenian products, the Minister noted the positive trend associated with the growth in the number and volume of export insurance transactions. He said that in 2021, the volume of insurance transactions of the Export Insurance Agency increased by 80% year-on-year, amounting to 36 billion drams. "This year we plan to register no less impressive results. Thus, we will help the manufacturer to find a common language with the buyer, with whom he is not particularly familiar. The manufacturer can apply to the Agency and receive payment risk insurance, after which it is possible to work freely with this counterparty," the official noted. At the same time, he indicated that the international Moody's rating agency assigned a rating to the (state) Export Insurance Agency of the Republic of Armenia, which is equal to the sovereign rating of Armenia. The Minister also said that positive dynamics was also registered in terms of tax collections. Thus, referring to the data of the Ministry of Finance, Kerobyan said that in 2021 he managed to collect taxes 14% higher than the target planned by the budget, without noting whether inflation was taken into account or not.
At the end of 2021, the Armenian government decided not to extend the ban on the import of Turkish goodsfrom January 1, 2022. The embargo came into force at the end of December 2020. The corresponding decision was adopted by the authorities in view of the active involvement of Turkey in the 44-day aggression against Artsakhs. As the mMnister previously reported, in 2020, goods worth $260 million were delivered from Turkey to Armenia, while the volume of Armenian exports amounted to about $2-3 million. By the end of 2021, as Kerobyan said, the volume of Turkish imports decreased 10-fold, and deliveries of Armenian goods were reset to zero. In mid-December 2021, the governments of Armenia and Turkey announced the appointment of special representatives to start a dialogue on normalizing relations.
