The government has submitted a bill to the parliament, which indirectly proposes to limit, or in case if it is possible, stop the activities of pawnshops and currency exchange points. Accordingly, the bill suggests to multiply the annual duty to be paid by currency exchange offices by 20 times up to 1 million dram. The bill also proposes to multiply the annual duty to be paid by pawnshops by 60 times up to 6 million dram. It is worth mentioning that the duty banks have to pay for this activity is 3 million dram. The Central Bank has already limited both the activities and number of currency exchange points for several times. In the beginning the CB issued an order that currency exchange points had to be in 50 meters distance one from another, and later they ordered that currency exchange points had to have security systems which were very expensive. As a result, a lot of currency exchange businesses were closed down. Later the CB decided that the boards showing the currency exchange rates should not be attached outside. In other words, the CB did everything to prevent the work of currency exchange businesses so that people exchange their money in banks. Through this the government wanted to control the foreign currency circulation in the market, or as the former president of the CB Tigran Sargsyan used to say, reduce speculative transactions. Through the bill sent to the parliament the former president of the CB and incumbent prime minister want to eventually stop the operation of currency exchange businesses and pawnshops so that the monetary business circulates in banks only. As a result, the incomes from currency exchange business will go directly to the private banks, which belong to high rank officials. It doesn’t matter if 500 businesses will be closed down, as a result of which around 1500 families will stay without income and earning.
