The Armenian Trade and Industry Chamber (TIC), the Union of Manufacturers and Businessmen (UMB) and the Union of Information Technology Enterprises (UITE) expect the IMF official in Armenia, Guillermo Tolosa, to clarify tax benefits for innovative enterprises, ARKA reports.
The Armenian authorities said that innovative enterprises will be freed from income taxes and VAT for 3-4 years. Tolosa believes that this would be dangerous, as there are 340,000 people involved in farming. Their debt reached $17 million in the first six months of 2010.
Armenia has raised the issue of modernization of the economy for the first time in the last 20 years. Lifting taxes may reduce industrial and innovative business. Guillermo Tolosa is expected to give the IMF's vision of the situation.
An open letter to the IMF was signed by the head of the TIC of Armenia Martin Sargsyan, the chairman of the UMB Arsen Kazaryan and UITE CEO Ovannes Avoyan. The letter was also addressed to the Ministers of the Economy and Finance, Tigran Davtyan and Vacha Gabriyelyan.
