In the first half of 2012, Armenian government fulfilled over 4000 applications of small and medium enterprise (SMEs) representatives in the framework of programs extending state assistance, Economy Minister said.

As Tigran Davtyan told a press conference, 93% of the assistance provided was aimed to provincial businesses, and only 7% to Yerevan-based ones.

“We give preference to provincial companies and implement a balanced development-oriented program,” he said.

In this context, Minister Davtyan said that 21 SMEs received AMD 1,3 bln direct funding in the first half of 2012.