ArmInfo.The Ministry of Economy of Armenia, with the financing of the Good Governance Fund of the Government of the United Kingdom and with the assistance of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), launched the Green Growth for SMEs in Armenia project
The main goal of the program is to increase the competitiveness of Armenia's small and medium-sized businesses by identifying opportunities for green growth and improving the efficiency of environmental risk management.
Within the framework of the program, it is envisaged to identify and map existing green finance instruments for SMEs in Armenia, develop a roadmap and action plan for integrating green growth of SMEs in Armenia, including steps to ensure gender equality, develop proposals for SMEs in Armenia on the structural integration of green growth mechanisms into their business activities, conduct training courses in all regions of the country.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Economy, the program will be coordinated by the Business Promotion Office, involving a team of specialists to develop an action plan for the Armenian SME sector. It should be noted that at the end of January, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan in his next interview announced a major program to promote SMEs in Armenia. Therefore, according to him, the ministry is studying the models of institutions supporting SME development, which may be more applicable in the country.
In particular, he noted that SMEs in Armenia are very vulnerable, and as a result, this institution must run a business "hand in hand" during the entire incubation period, until it is established. "We must create an incubation tunnel in such a way that as many companies as possible grow through it," he said. It should be reminded that earlier Vahan Kerobyan reported that the share of SMEs in the country's GDP does not even reach 30%. In this regard, he said that the Ministry has set itself an ambitious task - to bring this figure to 50%.
According to the RA Statistical Committee, in 2020, 78,530 micro-enterprises, 3,807 small businesses and 695 medium-sized businesses were registered in Armenia. The number of large companies in the country at the reporting date was 132. Turnover of micro-companies amounted to 1,632 517.5 million drams, small business - 1 158 181.3 million drams, medium business - 1 564 846.1 million drams, and large business - 2 358 366.1 million drams. Traditionally, the most SMEs in Armenia are involved in retail and wholesale trade, repair of cars and motorcycles (34.2%), and the smallest percentage is in the sector of water supply, waste management and treatment (0.1%).
