YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 2, ARMENPRESS. IT companies in Armenia are facing difficulties because of the depreciation of the foreign currency.
During a press conference today the representatives of IT companies were expressing their concerns about the current situation and were presenting their solutions.
“Drastic changes with an unprecedented pace have been taking place in the foreign currency market since this February. Several companies operating in IT industry have been closed because of the foreign current devaluation, and some others made layoffs. At the upcoming session of the government it is necessary to approve the draft on mitigating the risks existing in the IT sector”, President of the Union for Advanced Technology Enterprises (UATE) Hayk Chobanyan said.
He said that the devaluation of the foreign currency creates serious consequences for the sector as it is considered to be an exporting sector because orders are made by a foreign currency. He said that the losses that these companies have faced cannot be recovered, as a result there are closed companies or those that made layoffs.
“This is a huge blow to the sector which is of strategic significance for Armenia. The role of high technologies in all strategic documents of Armenia is reaching up to 70%”, Chobanyan said.
Since April, the leaders of IT companies have had many meetings with the leadership of the Central Bank and all agencies. In June-July there was a government’s draft decision on assisting the field, the continuation happened in the Economy Ministry.
“On September 12 the Ministry of Economy put into a public debate a new draft which envisages return of income tax of September-December. This will compensate a part of the damages they faced. However, this draft has not been approved yet”, he stated.
The representatives of the IT industry claim that the government should solve the issue in any way as the foreign currency devaluation puts the development of the sector under a high risk.
“Serious companies operating in the field are being closed, specialists are being laid off, salaries are declining. Each of these processes has its bad consequences for Armenia. Low salary will lead to leakage. We have tried to develop the field within 25 years, we have brought it to a tax field, even if there is no leakage, the specialists will start working on a freelance basis. Due to these problems today the companies are facing collapse”, Director of DataArt Armenia Office Arsen Baghdasaryan said.
The IT industry representatives call for the adoption of the aforementioned draft by the government as soon as possible.