Government to provide flood relief to affected Tavush, Lori businesses

YEREVAN, AUGUST 15, ARMENPRESS. The Armenian government will provide approximately 300 million drams to support the businesses affected by the May 26 floods in the provinces of Lori and Tavush.

The aid package was approved at the Cabinet meeting on August 15.

The Ministry of Economy will be in charge of providing the aid. Affected businesses must apply to the ministry through secretariat@mineconomy.am from August 25 to October 15.

The support volume for each business will be determined either by the size of the business property and level of damage and the volume of taxes paid by the business in 2023.

Prime Minister Pashinyan commented on the relief package, saying “When we are calling upon our dear countrymen to pay their taxes and avoid shadow circulation, it is done precisely for such cases. I don’t know how many businesses will find the size of the support justified, but I think it is definitely justified for us to correlate it with the paid taxes. Taxes are collected in order for the government to be able to provide support in such crisis situations. This is the case when we tell people to not think of taxes as giving the money they earned to someone else, but rather to think of it as taking it out of one pocket and putting it in the other,” Pashinyan said.