Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan today held a regular consultation on the government’s anti-crisis action plan. The meeting first summed up the results of daily monitoring of 13 government-approved programs.

The following was reported on the economic assistance measures: within the framework of the first measure 249 credit applications worth 13,159 million drams have been approved; within the framework of the second measure 2943 applications were approved, out of which 2632 - micro-credits for supporting agriculture, 311 - credits for other agricultural purposes. A total of 4,343 million drams has already been allocated as part of the second activity. Under the third program, 343 applications totaling 3,926 million drams have so far been approved. In the frame of the 5th activity, 9901 beneficiary have received 1,597 million drams. 83.4 million drams were paid to 1485 actual beneficiaries as part of the 10th activity.

The following was reported on the ongoing social assistance activities: the 4th, 6th and 7th activities are complete; all identified beneficiaries received financial support. As part of the 8th event, financial assistance was provided to 80,505 beneficiaries, the amount of assistance amounted to 5,571 million drams. 4227 applications are being processed at this point of time.

As part of the 9th program, 51,791 beneficiaries received assistance, the total volume is 1,398 million drams; 130 thousand applications are being processed. The 11th and 12th events have been completed and the planned payments are made in full. The 13th activity is still underway.

A number of issues related to the implementation of current programs were raised. The Prime Minister highlighted the effective implementation of the aforementioned activities and gave relevant instructions to those responsible.

Further steps to neutralize the socio-economic impact of the coronavirus were then discussed. In particular, the issue of increasing the credit portfolio provided for agricultural purposes was raised. The results of yesterday’s Prime Minister-chaired consultation were reviewed in that context, including the support toolkit and the proposals.

A common approach was formed during the exchange of opinions that followed, namely it was decided that the amount of credit resources provided to the farming sector should be stepped up at this stage and further steps should be discussed upon its completion.

Nikol Pashinyan reiterated that the Government prioritizes the agricultural sector as an important area of anti-crisis support and given the effectiveness of this tool, it will expand the volume of the loan portfolio provided as part of the second activity. The Head of Government instructed the responsible officials to submit the draft for approval as shortly as possible.

Proposals for environmental projects with a social bias and issues related to implementation mechanisms and instruments were discussed during the meeting. The Premier suggested continuing discussions on specification of proposals and development of new programs.