ArmInfo. Armenian authorities want to modernize the tools of the Productivity Enhancement Target Program. At a meeting on May 21, the RA government amended its decision of March 26, 2020.
In his speech, RA Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan noted that this is essentially a program to subsidize interest rates for leasing transactions. Specifically, it is proposed to grant economic operators the right to transfer subsidized loan/leasing agreements from one financial institution to another while maintaining state support. It is also planned to subsidize projects for the construction and reconstruction of hotel facilities in the regions of the Republic of Armenia (excluding Yerevan) that promote tourism. Projects for the acquisition of solar power generation systems will be excluded from the list of priority projects. At the same time, waste processing and disposal, as well as materials recycling, are being expanded into the project's scope.
The project aims to improve the targeting of state support, promote competition in the financial market, and effectively redistribute the program's financial resources without significantly increasing the budget burden.
It should be noted that the program's implementation from 2022 to 2025 resulted in the formation of a total loan and lease portfolio of approximately 471 billion drams, with an average ratio of state-supported borrowings to private investment of 1:10, demonstrating the program's high investment efficiency. At the same time, experience with the program has revealed a number of systemic limitations.
The lack of refinancing options for subsidized loans and leasing limits competition in the financial market and the financial flexibility of economic operators. The development of hotel infrastructure in the regions is not being targeted in accordance with state policy priorities, and the rapid expansion of solar power plants poses risks to the balancing and technical stability of the energy system.
The teaching of artificial intelligence fundamentals will also be expanded. This curriculum is currently being implemented in approximately 40 schools with the support of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST). This school curriculum is groundbreaking globally, and recently won an award at an industry competition for school curricula in the United States, the minister noted. "We are developing a new initiative with Firebird (the founders of a large data center in Armenia, which will be completed in the coming months - ed.) and OpenAI," the minister stated.
