Government to support economic entities in flood-affected Lori and Tavush

ArmInfo. Business entities affected by the flood on May 25-26 in Lori and Tavush regions will receive state assistance. The RA Government approved a program to assist representatives of the business community at a meeting on August 15.

According to RA Minister of Economy Gevork Papoyan, the main goal of the presented document is to assist entrepreneurs in the specified regions in overcoming the damage caused by the rampant natural disaster and to create conditions for continuing economic activity. The damage is assessed in three degrees:  medium, small and high. According to the program, the damage incurred by individuals and legal entities will be sent by the regional administrations to the republican commission and, after its approval, through the Ministry of Internal Affairs, will be transferred to the RA Ministry of Economy to begin the process of providing assistance.

In this case, the Minister continued, the size of the damaged areas, the amount of assistance for the repair of which was set by the Urban Development Committee, will be taken into account. In the case of a low level of damage, we are talking about 6.6 thousand drams per square meter of territory (maximum 1.2 million drams), in the case of an average level - 14.9 thousand drams per 1 square meter (maximum 1.2 million drams), in the case of a high level - 24.8 thousand drams per 1 square meter (maximum 1.2 million drams).

Within the framework of this component, about 150 business entities will receive assistance, which in total will receive about 140 million drams. According to the second component of the program, it is envisaged to return to the entities the tax deductions they paid in 2023 (VAT or income tax). In the case of a low level of damage, we will be talking about the return of 50% of tax payments (minimum 200 thousand drams and maximum 5 million drams), in the case of an average level - 70% (minimum 200 thousand drams and maximum 10 million drams), in the case of a high level - 100% (minimum 200 thousand drams and maximum 15 million drams). In total, 150 business entities will be able to use the second component of the program, and the total amount of budgetary deductions for these purposes will be 150 million drams

Future beneficiaries will have to submit applications to the e-mail address of the RA Ministry of Economy from August 25 to October 15 to participate in the program.

We would like to remind you that on May 26, a flood occurred in the north of Armenia, caused by heavy rainfall, torrential rain and the overflow of the Debed and Aghstev rivers, which led to significant destruction of infrastructure and the death of 4 people. The disaster damaged roads, bridges and railways.  In order to eliminate the consequences of the disaster, an operational group was formed under the leadership of the RA Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan. According to the latest data from the RA Ministry of Internal Affairs, 429 people were rescued and evacuated from various settlements in the Lori and Tavush regions.