BUDGET WON’T BE REVISED YET

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[12:20 pm] 05 March, 2009

"The logic of our actions is a calculated policy. We are implementing
that along with our colleagues and using their financial and economic
help," said Armenian PM Tigran Sargsyan during a press conference as
he touched upon the loans granted to Armenia by the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund.

The two international organizations have granted nearly half a
billion dollars in loans to help Armenia overcome the effects of the
financial/economic crisis.

Sargsyan assured the world’s best experts are helping Armenia
implement the correct macroeconomic policy which, according to the
Prime Minister, is aimed at securing the financial/economic stability
of the country.

"On the other hand, our policy is also aimed at accumulating sufficient
means to confront the new challenges facing us due to the global
financial/economic meltdown," noted the Armenian PM.

Will the RA Government re-calculate the state budget after making the
transition to a floating exchange rate policy? In response Sargsyan
said that the government is flexible in terms of the budget. According
to him, taking a look at the budget legislation, it is clear that
the flexibility allows the government to maneuver and make changes
to expenditures taking into account the changes taking place in the
financial/economic environment.

"I believe that it is too early totalk about radical changes in the
budget. It is still not possible to make predictions on development
of events in light of the global economic and financial activities for
this year. That is why rushing may hurt us," declared Tigran Sargsyan
adding that if things turn out for the better, there will be no need
to revise the budget; otherwise, they will obviously refer to issues
relating to the budget in mid-2009.

Sargsyan assures that Armenia has enough flexibility, instruments
and reserves that are accumulated in the Central Bank, particularly
the savings of the government. According to the Prime Minister, that
allows Armenia to be quite flexible in confronting the difficulties
in the first two trimesters of the year.

"The instruments and flexibility of the budget allow us to redistribute
expenditures based onb trimesters. For example, we can refrain from
certain expenditures during the 1st trimester and postpone them for
the fourth trimester," underlined Tigran Sargsyan.