ArmInfo. The Government of Armenia will not abandon the program of subsidizing loans for the creation of intensive gardens, even against the background of identifying cases of abuse during its implementation. "Financing will continue, and let those who steal be responsible for it," Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said on February 8 at a cabinet meeting, during which changes were made to the program.
As Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan stated, presenting the draft decision, from 2018 to the end of 2023, with state support, an agreement was signed on the creation of intensive gardens with an area of about 7,000 hectares. More than 100 billion drams have already been invested in this area of agriculture.
At the same time, there remains great interest in the creation of intensive gardens with government support and the introduction of modern irrigation systems. In this regard, despite the fact that the program was originally planned to end in 2023, the authorities decided to extend it until the end of 2025 and make a number of changes.
Thus, the authorities are refusing privileges for land above the norm. The draft also proposes to allow the issuance of loans in foreign currency. It is also recommended to stimulate the production of pulses to increase self-sufficiency. At the same time, to increase production of high-value crops, loans will be subsidized at a higher interest rate - 12 percentage points instead of 9 percentage points. The provision on the return of funds provided with state assistance in the event of deficiencies identified in the post- investment period has been clarified.
According to Pashinyan, the area is of strategic importance for Armenia, including from the point of view of competent management of water resources. The election program of the party in power, the Prime Minister recalled, states that the Cabinet should promote the creation of 1,000 hectares of intensive gardens annually. "The certificate states that we have established intensive gardens with an area of 7 thousand hectares, but we must record that the figure most likely does not reflect objective reality, since we have cases of uncovering abuses, well, at least there are suspicions that gardens no, but there was funding," the prime minister noted. At the same time, the head of the Cabinet believes that this does not mean that the authorities should abandon the program, it just needs to be improved.
Mr Kerobyan, in turn, noted that the identified violations concern only 0.2% or 234 million drams of the total volume of mobilized 100 billion drams. At the same time, he emphasized, the violations do not relate to theft, but to fraud on the part of the beneficiaries of the program. "My approach is as follows: whether budget funds were misappropriated or not, and in fact, it doesn't matter to me who misappropriated," concluded Nikol Pashinyan.
