In the first half of 2024, Armenia faced a substantial decrease in import volumes, which impacted customs revenues to the state budget. This was reported by Rustam Badasyan, Chairman of the State Revenue Committee (SRC), during a meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs on September 2.
According to the budget execution report, revenues from customs authorities fell by 62.9 billion drams (over $161 million), representing a 25.2% decrease compared to the same period last year. The key factor behind this decline was a sharp reduction in car imports, triggered by changes in Russian legislation effective August 1, 2023.
This resulted in a drastic reduction in the parallel export of cars from Armenia to Russia.
Badasyan noted that last year witnessed a significant surge in car imports, which was not repeated in the first half of this year. This led to a 34.7% decrease in VAT collected at customs, amounting to 62.8 billion drams ($161 million).
Additionally, there was a reduction in cigarette imports, also due to legislative changes. Importers sought to bring in large quantities of goods at the end of last year to avoid the impact of new regulatory measures.
Despite the overall decline in imports, tax revenues in the country increased. Taxes collected by the tax authority rose by 123 billion drams (over $300 million), reflecting a 14% growth. The total tax revenue for the first half of the year reached 1.1876 trillion drams (around $3 billion), exceeding the figures for the same period last year by 60.1 billion drams (over $155 million) or 5.3%.
