Armenia’s state debt within acceptable limits: finance minister says
YEREVAN, August 29, /ARKA/. Armenia’s state debt is in the limelight of
the government, finance minister Tigran Davtian said today, adding that
the debt is within `permissible limits.’ The minister cited the Law on
Debt under which the permissible correlation of state debt to GDP is
50%. `But I would like to assure that we shall never reach that level
and we have no such intentions,’ he said.
Speaking at a news conference at Novosti international press center,
the minister said Armenia’s aggregate state debt amounted to 754
billion Drams as of March 31, 2009, rising from 563 billion Drams
year-on-year. According to official numbers of Armenia’s National
Statistical Service (NSS), the debt rose by 33.8% in the surveyed
period of time.
The minister argued that even attraction of fresh loans this year would
not affect the status of the state debt. The government has already
secured over $1.1 billion in emergency loans from the IMF ($305) , the
World Bank ($60 million) , the Asian Development Bank ($80 million),
Russia ($500 million) and other foreign sources to cope with the
fallout from the global economic crisis.
The minister said the government has developed a detailed plan of
servicing the country’s foreign debt until 2025 and in this sense `all
processes are under tight control and monitoring of the government
conducted together with international experts.’
`Preservation of macroeconomic stability is a key component¦ Even amid
the crisis we have managed to maintain macroeconomic stability and
predictability,’ he said. Earlier Davtian said that Armenia’s aggregate
state debt in the next 10-11 years may rise to 37-38% of the GDP. M.M.
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