YEREVAN, January 16. /ARКА/. Today, the Armenian government extended by six months the state program of subsidizing interest rates on loans issued to farms for the purchase of grapes.
According to the government, the decision is aimed at easing the burden of servicing loans taken for the purchase of grapes and the losses incurred by farms when exchanging Armenian drams for payments under contracts concluded in foreign currency. The depreciation of the Russian ruble is cited as the reason.
Under the program, loans for the purchase of grapes were provided until September 1, 2022, for a period of up to 3 years and a grace period of 1 year, with a subsidy of 10 percentage points, and from September 1 to December 30 – for a period of up to 4 years and a grace period of 2 years, with a subsidy of 11 percentage points.
“The servicing of loans is also complicated by weather conditions at the Upper Lars border checkpoint (on the Georgian-Russian border) and the consequences of delays in delivery due to the long stay of vehicles exporting cognac in a specially protected area to obtain expert assessment results,” the decision says. According to government calculations, if all beneficiaries use this opportunity in 2025-2027, the program will require about 255.5 million drams, of which about 54.9 million drams in 2025, 180.3 million drams in 2026 and 20.3 million drams in 2027. (1 US dollar = 398.09 drams). -0-
