Nearly 15,000 Citizens Unemployed in Artsakh, 2,000 Economic Entities Ceased Operations

Currently, over 14,600 citizens have lost their jobs, and this number is increasing every day. Armenia Press reports that this was stated by Armine Musayelyan, Deputy Chairperson of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Artsakh, during an interview on July 21.

“To mitigate the socio-economic consequences of the blockade, the Government has initiated eight measures since January, aimed either at preserving jobs or compensating incomes for citizens who have already lost their jobs. Three of these programs have been implemented through the State Revenue Management Committee. The latest program is currently being finalized. All three programs have aimed to provide certain financial compensations to taxpayers operating in the most affected sectors of the economy so that they could pay the salaries of their employees and the taxes deducted from them. Under this program, over 1 billion 937 million drams have been allocated from the budget to compensate for the salaries of more than 4,600 employees and the taxes withheld from them,” Musayelyan explained.

According to her, given the new realities in the economy caused by the prolonged blockade of Artsakh, and since many operating entities can no longer continue their activities, these programs have mainly transformed through the eighth measure into social-oriented initiatives aimed at providing income for all unemployed individuals, including minors and pensioners.

“Since the blockade, 1,450 economic entities have ceased their operations, and after the complete supply blockade of Artsakh, 790 economic entities have also stopped functioning. This, of course, is not the full picture, as a large number of entities currently not operating have not yet applied to the tax authorities to officially register their cessation of operations; they are in what can be termed a waiting state. 2,827 economic entities are operating partially, using only a minimal portion of their production capacities. This is also evidenced by the sales turnover figures recorded for the first half of 2023,” said the Deputy Chairperson of the SRC.

She noted that compared to the first half of 2022, the sales turnover of entities in the mining sector has decreased by 94%, in the construction sector by 89%, in the manufacturing sector by 60.6%, in the trade sector by 54.5%, and in the energy sector by 41.8%.

“Naturally, in July, there have been significant reductions in turnover in several other sectors as well. At this moment, the data for July is not available in the informational database, but it is evident that, for instance, in transport, public catering, and construction sectors, turnover has already reached virtually zero,” the Deputy Chairperson of the SRC noted, adding that all this has led to a chain reaction causing job cuts.