ArmInfo.The Government of Armenia, represented by the Ministry of Economy, proposes to reimburse the amounts of customs duties established upon import of goods, stipulated by the legislation of the importing country, in order to stimulate exports. The project was approved on January 23 at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers.
As stated in the explanation to the document, taking into account the difficulties associated with the export of goods from the Republic of Armenia (due to weather problems and a decrease in transport potential) and, as a result, a sharp increase in the cost of transporting goods and an increase in the transportation time, the Ministry of Economy proposes a project that will allow an RA resident organization or an individual entrepreneur registered in the RA to export goods produced in Armenia to EU countries, and then receive compensation in the amount of the customs duty paid there (if the importing country does not have a zero customs duty rate for this product).
The basis for calculating the amount of compensation will be the export customs value of the goods. According to the authors of the initiative, from the point of view of long-term competitiveness, the project will ensure recognition of Armenian products in international markets, diversification of export markets, as well as ensuring and developing export promotion.
The member states of the European Union and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland were chosen as exporting countries, since these markets require high standards, and in case of providing temporary assistance in these markets, local companies will be able to bring their products in line with the above-mentioned standards and become more competitive.
According to the initiator of the project, the maximum amount of assistance will be about 15 billion drams per year. At the same time, it is planned that in case of providing the above-mentioned assistance, the export volumes of the target products defined by the project will increase next year by about 15%.
It is noted that the project comes into force on February 1, 2025 and is valid until December 31, 2026 inclusive.
According to the RA Statistical Committee, Armenia's foreign trade turnover with the EAEU countries in January-November 2024 amounted to $11.9 billion, which is 68.3% higher than the figure for the previous year. At the same time, exports decreased by 10.1% to $3.1 billion, against the background of a 2.4-fold increase in imports to $8.8 billion. The EAEU accounts for 42.2% of the volume of foreign trade. The EU countries account for 7.5%. In particular, the volume of trade decreased by 14.1%, amounting to $2.1 billion. At the same time, export volumes for the year decreased by 18.6% to $551.8 million, against the backdrop of a 12.4% decline in imports to $1.6 billion.
At the same time, the Ministry of Economy recently reported that by the end of 2024, Armenia increased exports to 14 countries of the European Union. Growth was recorded in countries such as France, Italy, Belgium, Poland, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Portugal, Slovakia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovenia. At the same time, a decrease in export volumes, according to the source, is observed in the direction of Bulgaria, Germany, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Luxembourg, Cyprus, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Sweden and Finland.
