YEREVAN, JUNE 24, ARMENPRESS.  Armenia has no plans to negotiate for the prolongation of external debt service during the state of emergency, ARMENPRESS reports Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan said at the National Assembly.

MP Arman Babajanyan asked if there are any negotiations with the international finance organizations for prolonging external debt service until next year.

‘’We do not think it’s the best option. There is an issue of reputation and attracting new debts. Anyway, we think we faced the hardships of 2020 quite well-prepared and this is because we have never delayed any payment’’, the Minister said, adding that the Government has no plans to negotiate in that direction.

He added that the World Bank had offered an opportunity to its member states and Armenia made use of that opportunity.

Considering the predictions of economic worsening for all the countries of the world in 2020, the international financial institutions try to maximally assist their member states to overcome the consequences of the pandemic. The  International Development Association (IDA) (under WB) has canceled by one year the additional interest rates for a number of loans by 1.7%.

According to the calculations of the World Bank  and the Finance Ministry of Armenia, as a result of cancelling the 1.7% additional interest rate, the Armenian state budget will save nearly 13 million USD.

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan, Editing and Translating by Tigran Sirekanyan