Government Eases Conditions for Beneficiaries of the Third Assistance Program: Deputy Minister

The government has made changes to the conditions of the third assistance program aimed at neutralizing the economic impact of the coronavirus, allowing for a larger number of businesses to become beneficiaries of the program. Deputy Minister of Economy NAira Margaryan shared this information during a press conference, according to Armenpress.

Margaryan first reminded attendees of the essence and conditions of the program. The third assistance initiative targets small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with a turnover between 24 million and 500 million AMD in 2019. The program includes organizations from the following sectors: manufacturing, accommodation, public catering, transportation, warehousing, tourism services, other service activities, and healthcare.

Later, the list was expanded to include sectors such as preschool education, private kindergartens, sports-related activities, sport clubs, swimming pools, and other entertainment and leisure services, excluding computer game operations and internet clubs, as well as building construction, civil engineering, and specialized construction activities.

“Conditions have been modified. Previously, we insisted that the turnover of every SME applying for the program in each quarter of the previous year should not be less than 10 percent of the total turnover for the year. However, based on the applications, we observed that a number of organizations, particularly tourist agencies and seasonal workers, were excluded due to this filter. Consequently, we decided to make a change, setting a new criterion that the quarterly turnover for each quarter in 2019 cannot exceed 70 percent of the total annual turnover,” said the deputy minister, noting that the number of beneficiaries has sharply increased as a result.

The requirement for a good tax and loan history remains a fundamental condition, but there have been changes to the tax history filter. Previously, it was required that the operator did not have ongoing tax collection procedures for the past 365 days, which resulted in many companies failing to meet this filter due to various technical reasons. The modification now states that this condition is applicable; however, if an organization does not meet this criterion but had no overdue tax obligations as of December 31, it can still participate. However, organizations that benefit under the criterion of having no tax obligations as of December 31 will need to pay a 1 percent fee for the loan provision.

Organizations that meet the conditions can access loan resources in AMD currency for a term of 36 months, with the initial six months exempt from repayments. According to Margaryan, the first 24 months of obligations are interest-free, while the last year carries a 12 percent interest rate.

Currently, the program has approved 461 applications, amounting to approximately 5.2 billion AMD. There are about 1200 applications in total, with the majority already reviewed.

The government has confirmed 14 measures to neutralize the economic impacts of the coronavirus. These measures aim to support both businesses and individuals who may face social issues.