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EU to allocate â‚¬ 100 mln to Armenia

21 February 2011 08:27 (UTC +04:00)

The EU is to provide up to 65 million euros in loans and up to 35 million euros in grants, the bloc’s executive, the European Commission, said in a statement.

However, the aid ’is conditional on the respect of the economic programme agreed between Armenia and International Monetary Fund (IMF)’ as part of a bailout programme, the commission stressed.

Armenia requested international help after its economy, amidst a global recession, crashed by over 14 per cent in 2009. In return for aid, the IMF asked it to cut debt, reform pensions and the tax system and improve auditing of its public accounts.

A 40-million installment of the EU money is set to be released once the Armenian parliament approves the terms of the aid package, while the rest of the funds are set to be paid out in late 2011, the commission said.