YEREVAN, July 2. /ARKA/. Prompted by the worsening socio-economic situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and Nagorno-Karabakh post-war developments, as well as the slow economic recovery, on April 30, 2021, Armenia’s Ministry of Finance officially applied to the International Development Agency (part of the World Bank Group) with a request to extend the decision on cancelling the additional 1.7% interest rate on loans for another year.
The decision on the application of an additional interest rate (1.7% per annum) on a number of loans provided to Armenia by the International Development Agency was canceled for one year, and was not applied during the fiscal year (from July 1 2020 to June 30, 2021).
According to the Ministry of Finance, on June 29 of this year, the WB reported that the request of the Armenian side was satisfied, and the specified additional interest rate would not be applied during the 2022 fiscal year of the WB (from July 1, 2021 to the 30th June 2022).
According to the estimates of the WB and the Ministry of Finance of Armenia, as a result, Armenia will save about 12 million dollars.
As of June 30, 2020, Armenian government’s debt to the International Development Agency stood at $955 million. The additional interest rate is applied to $755 million. -0-
