YEREVAN, November 8. /ARKA/. Gegham Gevorgyan, Armenian acting agriculture minister, said Wednesday presenting the 2019 draft government budget to parliamentary committees that the government should display personal approach in easing farmers’ tax burden.

“The government has already taken steps to ease the loan burden, but it is necessary to be cautious – it is necessary to differ the people who have invested the borrowed money in farming and then faced problems from those who have used the received money wrongly,” he said.

Gevorgyan said that the program of AMD 3-to-10-million preferential loans for farmers will not only be continued, but also expanded.

“The pilot project showed that an average loan portfolio amounted to AMD 4.7 million in 2017 and already AMD 5 million in 2018,” he said. “The targeted usage of the financial means was high as never before, and this has been verified by three different organizations.”

In his words, the area’s loan portfolio amounted to AMD 16 billion by October 2018.

“We are expanding the portfolio, and this will enable small economic entities to develop into a mid-scale category,” the acting agriculture minister said.

In the draft government budget for 2019, revenue is projected at AMD 1.5 trillion, spending at AMD 1.6 trillion and deficit at around AMD 150 billion.

Capital spending will grow in 2019 to 3% of GDP from the 2.3% expected in 2018.

Tax revenue in the draft budget for 2019 is projected at AMD 1 trillion 396 billion, and this will allow spending AMD 1 trillion 614 billion with the deficit of 2.2% of GDP or around AMD 150 billion. -0----