ARMENIAN OPPOSITION LEADER SAYS DRAFT 2005 BUDGET NOT SOCIALLY-ORIENTED

Arminfo
14 Dec 04

YEREVAN

“To put it mildly, the draft 2005 budget that the government has
submitted to the parliament cannot be considered socially-oriented.
There can be no talk of a socially-oriented basic financial document
when (the government) fires 10,000 teachers and then talks about
raising the salaries of the rest,” Viktor Dallakyan, secretary of the
(Armenian) parliamentary faction of the opposition Justice bloc, told
reporters at the Pakagits club today.

Official figures say 42 per cent of the Armenian population do not
have enough to eat while the parliamentary majority is doing
everything possible to hinder the adoption of a decision on repaying
the (citizens’ bank) deposits lost after the collapse of the Soviet
Union, Dallakyan said.

“They are praising this draft budget, which is 650-680m dollars,
whereas Azerbaijan’s budget is 2.1bn dollars. Armenia’s military
spending is thought to amount to 80m dollars while Azerbaijan’s is
equal to 250m dollars. Over 86 per cent of the 100m budget deficit is
covered by borrowing from abroad,” he said.

Dallakyan added that 32.8m drams (63,500 dollars) had been envisaged
for health sphere (in the draft budget), whereas Former Health
Minister Ararat Lazarian has said the sphere needs 70m drams (135,500
dollars) a year.

“But the government still keeps talking about the merits of the 2005
daft budget,” Dallakyan said.