Yesterday the NA standing committee on financial issues gave a positive conclusion about the mitigation of the excise tax for alcoholic beverages, which deserved a negative attitude on Saturday. The bill was mainly rejected by the ARF faction members. “Perhaps they benefit from the major difference between the excise tax of imported and produced alcoholic beverages,” said the head of the committee Vardan Ayvazyan. Reminder: The Minister of Agriculture of Armenia Aramayis Grigoryan is a member of the ARF faction and owner of Avshar vodka producing factory. Isn’t the ARF pursuing its own goal when voting against the bill? “Yes, we protect the domestic producers. I can even mention concrete names. This is our political course. Now let them say who they are protecting. This is a simple policy of protecting local producers. It’s natural that the fostering of domestic production will create certain inconvenience for importers,” said Ara Nranyan as a response to the question of our reporter.
