YEREVAN. - The income of natural monopolies in Armenia shouldn’t be reduced.

Chairman of the Public Services Regulatory Commission (PSRC) of Armenia, Robert Nazaryan, stated the aforementioned in the parliament Thursday, speaking at the discussion on PSRC’s activity in 2017.

The income of natural monopolies (except for the power operator) amounts to 10 per cent, being reduced to 8 percent after income tax deduction, whereas the profitability of Armenian government bonds is between 10 to 13.5 percent. Apparently, a question arises among many businessmen on why they should work if it is possible to merely invest money in bonds, which are not taxed, Nazaryan noted.

In this connection, Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) MP Mikayel Melkumyan noted that the profitability of Electric Networks of Armenia (ENA) is higher (17 percent), amounting to 14 percent after tax deductions.

Apart from this, during two years of its work the new head of ENA lowered the power losses from 12.9 to 11 percent.

“I’m not saying the income of the ENA is big or small. I would only like to say that there is a reserve here,” Melkumyan noted.

In this context, Nazaryan noted that ENA is the only company, whose profitability norm has been mentioned in the legislation since 2002, when it was privatized. “Thus, if you want to change something, it is necessary to change the law,” Nazaryan said.