YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has earmarked a total of 230 billion drams or 3.7% of its GDP to finance a string of measures it designed to support the economy to offset the consequences of the coronavirus crisis, according to the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB).
According to EDB’s Macroeconomic Forecast for 2020, of that amount 150 billion drams (2.3% of GDP) were channeled into the measures structured into a series of 24 phased programs as of September 2020.
According to EDB’s analysts, some of these measures were designed to support agriculture, tourism, small and medium-sized businesses, micro-business, information technology and other industries and others to support companies by co-financing and refinancing their loans and subsidizing interest rates. Others were designed as social support for various groups of the population. In addition, support of 1.4% of GDP was provided in the form of tax breaks.
According to EDB, the most ambitious anti-crisis measures are being implemented in Kazakhstan and Russia (about 8.7% and 4.5% of their GDP, respectively), which have significant, by regional standards, fiscal reserves.
According to EDB estimates, this will help compensate for about 2-3% of GDP losses in Kazakhstan and 1.3-2.3% in Russia this year.
“In Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the volumes of state support to economy and individuals are relatively small (about 1.1, 2.4 and 2.5% of GDP, respectively), which is explained by their limited fiscal reserves,” the EDB said.
According to the latest data, as of September 10, the Armenian government spent 163.4 billion drams (almost $335 million) on the programs to overcome the consequences of the coronavirus. ($1 – 506.4 drams).