NOT ALL DEPUTIES OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SHARE OPINION THAT 2009 DRAFT STATE BUDGET IS DRAFT BUDGET OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Noyan Tapan

Nov 13, 2008

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 13, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly on November
13 continued the discussion of the 2009 draft state budget, but the
parliament failed to finish this discussion during 4 sittings. A
special session was inviated on the same day on the initiative of
NA deputies.

The minister of finance Tigran Davtian said in his speech that the
2009 draft state budget can be called a draft budget of sustainable
development.

Further discussions, however, revealed that not all the deputies
share this opinion.

In particular, Stepan Safarian, the secretary of the only opposition
faction – "Heritage", stated on behalf of their faction: "In an
international environment which is unstable and, as the prime minister
said, self-organizing and accompanied by occasional crises, such a
budget can neither be considered nor called a budget of sustainable
development".

According to S. Safarian, as well as several deputies of the political
coalition and some independent deputies, some statements in the
government’s message on the 2009 draft state budget do not correspond
to the financing of the programs envisaged by the draft. Particularly,
the country cannot develop without industry, whereas little money has
been allocated for industry. The majority of the deputies who made
a speech pointed out the fact that the government speaks about the
necessity to encourage domestic producers but exports decline year by
year instead of growing: in 2008 the negative commodity balance made
1.2 billion USD, whereas in 2009 it is envisaged to make 3 billion USD.

Tigran Torosian, the former speaker of the NA, currently an independent
deputy, in his turn said that a number of program provisions, which
are related to the directions announced by the government as priority
directions and were indicated by the prime minister in his speech,
are not in line with the budgetary indices. In his words, it is sad
and shameful that any driver in the state system is better paid than
a merited scientist.