8,500 NEW SME REGISTERED LAST YEAR

ArmenPress
Feb 16 2005

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 16, ARMENPRESS: The share of small and medium
enterprises in the last year’s overall GDP rose 1 percent to 39
percent. Rshtuni Martirosian, the head of the National Center for
Development of Small and Medium-Sized Businesses, said today the growth
was reported in all sectors. The growth in trade was 1.6 percent,
in industry and construction 2.5 and 4.3 percent respectively.

He said the development of SME should not be hinged on government
support only, as it is contingent also on the improvement of the
population’s economic condition and their higher purchasing capacity.
According to his figures, some 44 percent of construction and 78
percent of trade workers are in small and medium-sized businesses.

He also said last year some 8,500 new small and medium-sized businesses
were registered, creating 18,000 new jobs. Their share in exports
last year stood at 16 percent against 14 last year. He also said
that though there is no official statistics about how many small and
medium-sized enterprise are closed annually, but in his estimation,
one in every ten is closed due to absence of markets for their products
or faulty management.