Serzh Sargsyan: Government should help frost-hit farmers

The Armenian government works actively to assist frost-hit farmers as much as possible, Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan said during the consultation at Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) today.

“Quite considerable damage was done, but I think it will be possible to mitigate the damage through joint work of the government and CBA. We gathered such experience in the previous years and we began to work more actively when hail damaged sown areas in Armavir province last year,” the president said.

According to him, loan repayment dates of frost-hit farmers will be postponed.

If there are any other mechanisms to resolve famers’ problems, they should also be used, the president noted.

In his words, many are under the impression that the purpose of banks, including CBA, to provide loans at high interest rates and that CBA allegedly assists the activities of private banks, while high interest rates bear evidence of their super profits.

In reality the banks and the financial system are interested in promoting economic development, the president said.

He stressed that assistance to frost-hit farmers should be all-inclusive and distributed equally.