Government responds to farmers reeling under the burden of loans (video)
“Farmers are reeling under the burden of loans in most villages of Armenia,” Levon Zurabyan, Head of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) faction, said during the government's question-and-answer session in the National Assembly. “People have contacted us from Amravir, Arevik and Osakan villages. The picture is the same everywhere. People are taking loans at an interest rate of 24 percent but they cannot repay them in time. People use their houses as collateral for loans. The situation gets even worse when the weather is unfavorable. The most surprising is that a group of villagers applied to the prime minister and received the following response: banks are private companies and the government has no authority to intervene with their activity. These people did not turn to the government of Thailand and Zimbabwe; they turned to the government of Armenia. Was it impossible to organize a discussion and find a solution?” Levon Zurabyan said. Minister of Agriculture Ignati Arakelyan answered the lawmaker saying, “You are right, there is a problem, but there is no mechanism to tackle it. This issue is under discussion, the Prime Minister has been informed about the problem. Also, the Central Bank has been instructed to find solutions. We are discussing the possibility of developing a pilot insurance system to reduce the climate disasters and other risks in order to alleviate the farmers’ burden.”
