Minister of Finance of Armenia says prices for books not to increase.

Prime Minister of Armenia Tigran Sargsyan responded to the letter of a group of intellectuals and writers over the growth of prices for books. Minister of Finance of Armenia Vache Gabrielyan presented explanations over the issue at the cabinet sitting today.

"We have not added any tax burden on books. No law on taxing the publishing sphere has been adopted. There is just a misinterpretation of law on value added tax. We have explained the issue to the publishers and book sellers and came to an agreement. We have prepared an official explanation together with the State Revenue Committee and the publishers and book sellers understood that there is no issue in this respect," the minister said. Vache Gabrielyan convinced that the prices for books will go down in future.

Citing the information of the Ministry of Culture, the Prime Minister said ten new bookstores have opened recently which intensifies competition in this sphere. Tigran Sargsyan assigned the State Commission on Economic for the Protection of Economic Competition to study the issue of competitiveness in the book market.