Armenian government earmarks 150mln drams for SME development in 2013

YEREVAN, January 24. ARKA

Armenian government decided to allocate 150mln drams under a small and medium enterprise (SME) development program in 2013.

The main aim of the program is to provide continuous state support to small and medium companies, the country’s minister of economy Tigran Davtyan said.

The money will be used particularly for supporting businessmen in start-up, providing loan guarantees and technical and financial consultations on various issues.

The minister pointed out that the loan threshold may be increased from 3 to 5mln drams due to high demand.

Davtyan stressed that about 92% of the money will be directed to the country’s regions.

He also said that these funds are only a part of SME development program in Armenia. SME will be also supported by the SME crediting fund (about 778mln drams) and the SME Investments universal credit organization (about 6bln drams)

“It is recoverable resources which will help continue financing start-ups and guaranteeing loans”, the minister said.

A total of about 98bln drams were allocated for SME in Armenia in 2007-2012, he reported.

There are currently about 60,000 companies, 92% of which are small or medium-sized, the minister said. ($1=405.44drams).