YEREVAN. – If the Government of Armenia wants to help the small and medium-sized businesses in the country, it should establish law and order at the customs.

Chairman of the “Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Cooperation Association” NGO, Hakob Avagyan, stated the aforesaid at a press conference on Monday. He noted this commenting on the parliament-approved amendments to the Law on Turnover Tax.

In Avagyan’s words, if the imported goods are not transparent at Armenia’s customs, this will make it difficult to establish law and order in the other “rings” of this “chain.”

“So, along with economic decisions, political decisions should also be made, and which specify equal rights for everyone at the customs,” Hakob Avagyan added.

To note, in the case when the turnover tax for Armenia’s commercial entities used to be 1 percent with required documentation of transactions, pursuant to the aforementioned amendments, however, this tax rate is now 1 percent for the documented products, whereas 5 percent for the “shadow” goods. At any rate, the tax cannot be lower than 1.5 percent of the total turnover. In addition, the limit of the turnover tax has been raised.