— How you evaluate the situation in small and medium -sized businesses in 2018?
— Economic growth in 2013, which amounted to 3.5% is such a small and stretched figure that in the economy, in general, this difference is not even felt. As for SMEs, it should be considered in two aspects.
Firstly, the specifics of the Armenia economy is that unlike other countries, we have the main concept of employment and the main indicators are based on small businesses. There are 470 thousand in total in the country. A person, of which 190 thousand – in the public sector and 280 thousand – in a private. About 500 thousand. A person is self -employed in agriculture, they, having land plots and working on them, do not receive salaries and do not pay taxes. Of those who work in the private sector, only 60 thousand falls on the share of industry, mainly in large and medium -sized businesses. The remaining 220 thousand are busy in the Small and Micro-Business. What kind of figure is this at 1.6 million working -age population! At the same time, the number of small enterprises is about 18 thousand, and microenterial enterprises are approximately 50 thousand, t. e. Each enterprise accounts for an average of 3.5 people. This is a meager figure. Conclusion: Small business today is so weak that it is not able to absorb labor. This is a negative indicator.
Secondly, according to official figures, the share of small business in GDP is about 43%. However, in reality, if you highlight these 43% and analyze the structure of small businesses, its imports, export, distribution by regions, etc. D., It turns out that the share of small business in the regions is only about 6%. This is a very low indicator, and in terms of export, small business does not play any role at all.
In small production processes that provide employment from 10 to 50 people, small businesses are also not involved. In general, in the field of production where the final product is produced, small business is practically not involved. The exception is the food industry, where it has its own small share in the production of canned food-from the purchase of raw materials to the finished product, as well as the field of information technology, which contain small IT companies that produce the final product. Thus, evaluating small businesses, we must talk not only about numbers, but also about its participation in the economy, from the point of view of employment, participation in the production sector of the economy, regional development, export share, etc. D.
I will give a specific example. Recently, I studied the structure of trade with Belarus and Russia. And in this regard, he became interested in the situation in winemaking. It turned out that today in the domestic market products are sold by about $ 5 million, the export potential is about $ 2.5-3.0 million, and we export a penny, realizing about 20% of the existing potential. Small business that can be used in the production of wines for export, at present, does not play any role in this industry.
