YEREVAN. - Armenia remains world leader by the percentage of cars running on compressed gas, Vakhtang Mirumyan, Deputy Minster of Finance said in the parliament on Thursday at the discussion on raising the excise tax of cigarettes, vodka and fuel.

According to him, the compressed gas should also become excisable, it having become the main fuel for cars in Armenia, considering that it’s excisable all over the world.

“If several years ago Armenia imported 28-30 or up to 32 thousand tones of petrol monthly, now the number has reached roughly 10 thousand. At the same time, 25-30 thousand cars are imported to Armenia annually,” the Deputy Minister said.

The import of diesel fuel is also not large – nearly 11-12 thousand monthly, again significantly less than several years ago, Mirumyan said.  

If the drivers have come to use fuel about three times less, the use of compressed gas has increased by 6 times. Several years ago, the consumption of compressed gas in the republic constituted 80 cu m, that number reaching 480 million in 2014, Mirumyan said.