FINANCE MINISTER: ARMENIA TO BE MORE CAUTIOUS IN ATTRACTING NEW FUNDS IN 2010

ARKA
Sep 30, 2009

YEREVAN, September 30. /ARKA/. Armenia will be more cautious in
attracting new credits in 2010, Finance Minister Tigran Davtyan said
at a press conference on Tuesday.

"Attracted funds have their price and need service expenses. That is
why we will be more cautious and conservative in attracting funds in
2010 to recover economy, reduce the budget deficit and get back our
pre-crisis indicators", he said.

The minister said that the budget deficit will be driven 1% down to
5.6% or 5.7% of GDP the next year.

The government will do whatever necessary to return to international
standards and lower deficit to 3% of GDP, the pre-crisis level.

"There will be no need to attract great funds the next year. The
money received from World Bank, International Monetary Fund,
Asian Development Bank and Russia is intended for 2009 and 2010",
Davtyan said.

He said that the World Bank lent $60 million to Armenia and Asian
Development Bank $80 million.

The International Monetary Fund will transfer $305 million to Armenia
in 2009 and 2010.

The minister said that Russia sent $500 million to the country
as bailout credit for supporting economy, not for covering budget
expenses.

In his words, AMD 95 billion of the Russian credit has already been
sent to various sectors of the national economy for supporting s
mall- and mid-scale businesses, another 24 billion was earmarked for
recovery of quake-stricken areas this year and 22 to 24 billion will
be transferred for these purposes in 2010.

"This is a half of the Russian credit – AMD 140 or 145 billion has
already been utilized. The remaining amount will be kept in the
Central Bank as bailout fund", Davtyan said.