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March 28
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I do not think that anything serious has been done to save businesses in Armenia. Second President Robert Kocharyan stated this during a meeting with economic journalists.

“I use the word 'save' because an entire domain is on the brink of extinction. It should not be about soft loans, but about a number of measures. First of all, tax benefits (…). We need to move forward with compound measures.

When the business is completely stopped, you do not solve the problem by giving a soft loan; you just add to the loan burden of that business. In this case, being 'preferential' is also conditional in today's conditions, when money is quite cheap in Europe. What is called 'preferential' here is generally the average loan interest rate in Europe—maybe lower. In this case, I do not consider that any serious step has been taken to assist business [in Armenia]," Kocharyan said.

He also noted that a damaged business cannot be recovered in 1-2 months and will take years. "This is a simple truth that I do not think they [the Armenian authorities] understand. Do you know why they do not understand? Because no one there has created five jobs in his life.”

And referring to the Armenian government's anti-crisis measures, Robert Kocharyan said. "The worst thing is that all this is presented as steps to do good to people. You are not doing a good deed, you are doing your duty as a government. If you do not even take these steps in these conditions, then what should you be doing in general? One just has to remember what the government and the halls of power are for. All that is not from their pocket. They have to manage well, get the right income, the economy must develop; in difficult times, yes, they have to stand with the people, with businesses."

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