DISCUSSIONS OF 2010 DRAFT STATE BUDGET START AT PLENARY SITTINGS OF NATIONAL ASSEMBLY

Noyan Tapan
Nov 18, 2009

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 18, NOYAN TAPAN. Discussions of the 2010 draft
state budget of Armenia started at the November 18 sitting of the
RA National Assembly. The government has submitted the draft state
budget’s preliminary version which was discussed at the joint sittings
of the NA Standing Committees in the period of October 30 to November
6. The draft state budget envisages revenues of 676.7bn drams,
expenditures of 859.7bn drams, and a deficit of 183bn drams. The
draft was calculated based on the settlement exchange rate of 376
drams per dollar. 1.2% economic growth has been forecast.

Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said in his speech that some
amendments will be introduced into the draft budget to be submitted
for final approval. In particular, the negotiations with the Millennium
Challenge Program have been completed, as a result of which the budget
expenditures will increase by 24bn drams at the expense of financial
resources to be received. A positive answer also came from the EU:
Armenia will get additional financial assistance of 100 million
euros for ensuring macroeconomic stability in 2010. These sums will
be included in the state budget.

Besides, the expenditures of the submitted draft budget will grow by
about 18bn drams at the expense of VAT. The prime minister said this
will make the 2010 draft budget comparable with the 2009 budget. By
instructions of the Armenian president, the taxes/GDP ratio will be
considerably improved, thanks to which the revenues of the draft will
increase by nearly 17bn drams. As a result, the 2010 draft budget
(taking the indicated additional sums into account) will exceed the
2009 indices by about 50bn drams.

T. Sargsyan expressed an opinion that these additional sums are in
keeping with the proposals and comments made by NA deputies during the
preliminary discussions, which will enable to deal with some of the
issues raised by deputies. In particular, in 2010 the expenses of the
Ministry of Defence will exceed the actual expenses in 2009, and in
2010 more money will be allocated to Nagorno Karabakh than this year.

There will be an increase in capital investments in school building,
also in sums for compensation of deposits with the savings bank.