YEREVAN, July 1. /ARKA/. As part of the government programs designed to offset the consequences of the coronavirus shock, Armenian banks have provided loans worth 73 billion drams, Central Bank Chairman Martin Galstyan said at a news conference on Tuesday.

According to him, the anti-crisis programs are aimed at assisting the most affected economic sectors. He said loans were used mostly to pay taxes and salaries, to purchase equipment, as well as to stimulate the agricultural sector.

“It is too early to say how effectively the loans were used because of the ongoing high level of uncertainty, including due to changes in consumer behavior, but in this situation, both capital expenditures and fiscal policy are very important in the context of shaping future GDP,” Galstyan said.
At the same time, he noted that since there is no single recipe, the government is creating opportunities and products, including for business, to absorb funds.

“It is too early to give estimates about lending efficiency, but there are funds that flow into the economy. Most importantly, the government is open to business. And this is a very important impulse and business should use them to promote their products,”said Galstyan.

In addition, he said, the IMF and the WB are implementing major assistance programs to help recover the economy.

Galstyan added that the government plans to develop new assistance programs, and it is possible that they may have a positive impact on the financial and banking sector.

The Armenian government has so far approved 22 programs to counteract the economic consequences of coronavirus. Ten of them are designed to assist agriculture, tourism, SMEs, microbusiness, IT and other industries and the rest are designed for supporting various groups of the population.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated on June 4 that as part of anti-crisis measures, 100.4 billion drams were paid to 51,800 business entities and more than 1.1 million individuals. --0--