YEREVAN, May 8. /ARKA/. Armenian parliament has approved today in the first reading a bill on amending the Law on Consumer Lending, proposed by the Bright Armenia faction.

Maneh Tandilyan, an MP from the faction, said consumer credits in Armenia are the credits which range from 100 thousand drams to 10 million drams. She said citizens taking loans in this range are protected by law since the contract must specify the effective interest rate.

She said the initial idea was to remove the limits, but taking into account inflation, a conclusion was made that it is possible to raise the upper limit. She said the amendments propose that the limit be raised to 15 million drams. Tandilyan said also that many citizens take loans in the amount of up to 100 thousand drams, therefore, the bill calls for removing the lower limit.

The Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Nerses Yeritsyan said in his turn that the government refrains from giving estimates to the bill, but added that loans exceeding 10 million drams cannot be considered consumer.

He said according to the directive of the European Union, the size of consumer credit must be compatible with the calculation of per capita income and cannot be twice the size of the average income. In Armenia, this figure is several times higher. In his words, this norm is aimed at protecting vulnerable segments of the population ($ 1 - 481.46 drams). --0--