THE LAW NEEDS TO BE EDITED
Srbuhi Vanian

Azat Artsakh Nagorno Karabakh Republic [NKR]
11 Sept 05

On September 8 the meeting of the standing committee of finance, budget
and economic management of the NKR National Assembly took place. It
was conducted by the chairman of the committee A. Harutyunian. At
the meeting members of government and officers of the tax service
were present. The committee discussed the annual report on the state
budget of 2004, the 2005 budget message of the Ministry of Economy
and Finance, the draft decision of the NKR National Assembly on
the annual report of 2004 on the implementation of the 2004-2006
programme of privatization of the state property. A. Harutyunian
once again informed that the performance of the state budget of the
previous year was satisfactory. Presenting the annual report on the
state budget of 2004, the chief treasurer N. Baghdassarian mentioned
that the performance of budget receipts was 127.5 per cent. In 2004
budget receipts grew by 1 billion 420 million drams. The actual
outlays were totaled 94.5 per cent. In 2004 the loan provided by
Armenia totaled 11.2 million drams. The members of parliament were
interested if the factors which determined the increase of budget
receipts were analyzed. The representatives of the tax service
mentioned that the increase was mainly determined by stricter control
on tax collection, the GDP and the arrears. In answer to Member of
Parliament S. Hakobian’s question why certain spheres, such as the
health sector, were not financed 100 per cent, N.

Baghdassarian answered that the financial means were provided in
accordance with the applications presented by them, and in the health
sector the amount is determined by the number of patients. Presenting
the information on the performance of the state budget in the first
half of 2005, the treasurer mentioned that in the accounting period
against the estimated 2770.2 million drams the actual receipts
totaled 3470.8 million drams (125.3 per cent, growing by 842.5
million drams since the same period of the previous year). Instead
of the estimated 1991.3 million drams return on tax totaled 2587.4
million drams, and instead of 411.5 million drams non-tax return
totaled 415.4 million drams (100.9 per cent). The loan provided by
Armenia (which is a source of covering the budget deficit) totaled
6680 million drams. N. Baghdassarian informed that the balance
of the beginning of the year, totaling 1701.6 million drams, was
directed at covering the budget deficit. In the first half of 2005
the state budget expenditure totaled 8467.6 million drams (77.3 per
cent of the estimated amount). The treasurer also presented a set of
macroeconomic indices describing the country’s social and economic
situation. According to him, the GDP of the first half of the current
year totaled 20.1 billion drams (growing by 22.6 per cent against
the previous year). The volume of industrial production is about 7.8
billion drams, gross agricultural output is 4.9 billion drams. The
volume of building is 4.4 billion, foreign trade 28.1 billion drams
(export totaled 8.8 billion, import 19.3 billion drams). The average
salary is 49 526 drams, growing since the previous year by 29.8 per
cent. There was an increase in the income of people (by 16.8 per cent)
and the expenses (23.8 per cent). The question of privatization of
the state property caused heated discussions. It was stated that the
law on privatization of the state property needs to be edited.