YEREVAN. – State officials in Armenia will hereafter be fined for hindering economic competitiveness.

The respective draft amendments to the Law on Economic Competitiveness were approved at Thursday’s Cabinet session.

Accordingly, the officials, who get in the way of a company’s activities and back another company, will pay a fine of up to 5 million drams (approx. US$10,550).

Correspondingly, such activities by any business-related government agency will be considered such an offense.

Under the current law, these actions are also punishable as abuse of power. But, from now on, the violations that hinder economic competitiveness will be punished separately in Armenia.