NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMPLETES REGULAR STAGE OF DISCUSSING 2009 DRAFT STATE BUDGET

Noyan Tapan

Nov 13, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. At the November 13 special session,
the RA National Assembly completed the regular stage of discussing the
2009 draft state budget. The NA speaker Hovik Abrahamian announced
that the discussion is interrupted for at least 4 days, and within
the next 24 hours deputies, factions and standing committees must
officially submit their proposals to the NA staff that will present
these proposals to the government.

In his closing speech the minister of finance Tigran Davtian assured
the parliament that the "budget is realistic and adequate to the
challenges of next year", and the government has enough opportunities
to fulfil the budget.

He said that the coming year will not be easy for the world economy
but Armenia tries to be as well-prepared as possible when entering
the year 2009. In particular, according to T. Davtian, the envisaged
deficit of the budget is quite low: it makes up 1% of GDP. In case
of necessity it may be theoretically increased up to 3% of GDP which
will allow to attract additional 80 billion drams. Besides, the
budget envisages a reserve fund, the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA)
has its reserve funds, and there are also opportunities of receiving
concessionary credits from international organizations.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress