DRAFT STATE BUDGET OF ARMENIA FOR 2008 UNPRECEDENTED

ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Oct 5 2007

YEREVAN, October 5. /ARKA/. The draft state budget of Armenia for 2008
is an unprecedented one, Member of Parliament from the Republican party
of Armenia, member of the Parliament Commission for Financial-Crediting
and Budgetary Issues Areg Ghukasian reported.

According to him, the Republican Party of Armenia, in the person of
its leader, kept the promise and presented a budget equivalent to
2.5bln dollars.

Ghukasian pointed out that the share of the budget deficit in relation
to GDP is 2.1%, which can be considered a good ratio, bearing in mind
that the norm is 3% in the developed countries. He also said that
a more detailed assessment of the budget will be provided after the
study of the draft budget submitted to the parliament yesterday.

Earlier the Armenian Prime-Minister Serge Sargsian said that the
budget of Armenia for 2008 is to total 2.5bln dollars, which has
nothing to do with the elections though.

On October 2, the Armenian Government approved the draft state
budget for 2008. Under the draft budget, budget income and budget
supply are to total 744.7bln Drams and 820.8bln Drams respectively,
with the budget deficit being 76bln Drams.