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Allocations for the agricultural sector amounted to 186 billion drams this year, MP of the faction of Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) Lyova Khachatryan said at a press conference today. According to him, 8-9% of the loans were given to agriculture.

“Where did the remaining 92% of loans go?  After all, this sector, even though in a state of neglect, ensures economic growth. Agriculture accounts for 20% of GDP growth,” he said noting that cheap loans, even interest-free loans, should be given to processing companies.

Another participant, MP of Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) faction Lernik Aleksanyan said that agriculture requires large investments. “But famers get loans, and then they fail to make a profit so they incur debts.  We need to solve deeper-lying problems,” he said.

Speaking about a foot-and-mouth disease case, L. Aleksanyan said that the response of the press to the reported case was inadequately strong. “There is no denying that our organizations still have much to do, but I think that the Russian ban on some foodstuffs is not related only to the foot-and-mouth disease”.

In his words, the mistake of our country is that an attempt has been made to build market relations without a foundation.