A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

By the Government’s decision, 1 billion 608 million AMD will be allocated to the regional administrations of Armenia in order to provide subsidies to the communities in addition to the subsidies already envisaged by the state budget. The main target of the subsidy program applications is capital investments in communities, in particular, improvement of streets, parks, playgrounds, construction and renovation of community buildings, cultural houses, kindergartens, banquet halls, construction and renovation of drinking, sewerage, irrigation water pipes, night lighting, ensuring communities with access to natural gas, renovation of common areas of residential buildings using energy saving measures.

The Government approved the agreement form on the schedule of the implementation stages of the "Myler" investment program which had been approved by the relevant decision of July 29, 2021. According to the substantiation, the program is aimed at ensuring the diversity and development of tourism in the republic, as well as the establishment of a healthy lifestyle among the population, and is in line with the economic development strategy adopted by the Government of the Republic of Armenia. The investment program of "Myler Mountain Resort" CJSC will be implemented in the territory of Aparan community of Aragatsotn region. The company plans to build a multifunctional mountain complex in Yeghipatrush village. According to the Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan, everything will be done for the ski resort to start operation next year. The Minister also informed that today "Myler Mountain Resort" company signed a contract with the Austrian company Doppelmayr for the purchase of a ropeway worth 24 million euros. Touching upon the investment sphere, Nikol Pashinyan noted that according to the statistics of the first 10 months of the previous year, a rather visible growth of foreign direct investments has been recorded. "Of course, in absolute numbers, it is not the benchmark we have set, but still, we see dynamics; we must foster its continuation."

The Government presented proposals and remarks on the draft law "On Making Amendments to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia" submitted as a the legislative initiative by the MPs of the “Civil Contract” parliamentary faction. The draft, in particular, proposes to define that until December 31, 2024 the expenses related to the providing service to up to 25% of the student body of the higher education institution (10% by the current legislation) are considered as expenses for determining the tax base of a resident income taxpayer and non-resident income taxpayer operating in the Republic of Armenia through a permanent institution, regardless of the fact that students reimburse for those services. It is also suggested that in order to determine the income tax base, tuition reimbursement amounts in cases prescribed by law for up to 25 percent of the student body of the higher education institution (10 percent by the current legislation) is considered deductible income. As the Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sports Vahram Dumanyan noted, taking into account that at present there are no other tools of targeted support to the beneficiary students, as well as the fact that the draft proposes a temporary solution, we should discuss seting the limit of the support tool at 20 percent of the student body instead of 25. Referring to the bill, Nikol Pashinyan noted that the Armenian Government, the political majority, is taking measures to respond to inflation and social problems. "The draft law submitted by the MPs of the "Civil Contract" faction is a part of the temporary measures of this process. Prior to this, the following regulation was applied. Universities applied certain tuition discounts for up to 10 percent of students, they could apply for over 10%, but tax liabilities arose for universities. Now the higer educational institutions can apply the system of discounts for up to 20% and no tax liabilities will arise. In other words, as a result of this change, another 7,000 students will be able to use the discount system without additional tax obligations for universities”, the PM said, adding that the political majority, the Government has declared that no student with high average quality point should be dismissed from the university for not paying the tuition fee.