Armenian government approves new conditions for agri-food sector development

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YEREVAN, August 29. /ARKA/. The Armenian government has approved new conditions for the development program in the agri-food sector during a session on Thursday./pp

Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan stated that the initiative aims to expand the network of slaughterhouses in Armenia and to progressively enhance the technological capabilities of businesses operating within the agri-food sector./pp

Papoyan highlighted that the project intends to improve the quality and safety standards of the products, boost the competitiveness of domestic goods, and explore new export markets for diversification./pp

Currently, Armenia has a government decision from 2018 that provides leasing support for acquiring equipment in the agri-food sector. Under this program, the total lease transaction amount should not exceed 1 billion AMD per entity. If an entity has obligations amounting to 1 billion AMD, it cannot acquire additional agri-food equipment until it reduces its debt to 800 million AMD, at which point it can obtain equipment worth 200 million AMD. Papoyan noted that many businesses have actively utilized this program, showing positive results in productivity, exports, and other areas./pp

The Minister announced plans to raise this threshold to 2 billion AMD. Additionally, the program will expand the network of mobile modular slaughterhouses, increasing the support limit from 200 million AMD to 2 billion AMD. The leasing assistance program mainly benefits agri-processing, greenhouse, and refrigeration businesses./pp

Papoyan also mentioned that the current leasing interest rate ranges from 12.5% to 15%, depending on bank conditions. The government plans to subsidize 10% of this rate, eventually increasing the subsidy to 12%. For mobile modular slaughterhouses, 80% of the down payment is subsidized, meaning businesses only need to cover 4% of the down payment./pp

This initiative is expected to contribute significantly to the growth and modernization of Armenia's agri-food sector, ensuring better product quality and expanding market opportunities./pp br/pp br/p