ARMENIA’S 2010 STATE BUDGET

The Civilitas Foundation
Friday, 05 February 2010 13:51

Armenia’s residents know how the government collects taxes, but few
know how those revenues are spent. For that reason, the Civilitas
annual report Armenia in 2009: Promise and Reality, prepared a
well-researched and detailed poster providing a visual explanation
of Armenia’s 2010 budget.

The budget is divided into 11 fundamental categories:

Social security – 649 mln USD General Public Services – 371 mln USD
Defense – 360 mln USD Support to Different Economic Spheres – 300
mln USD Education- 265 mln USD Public Order, Security and Justice-
150 mln USD Health – 147 mln USD Housing and Utilities -123 mln USD
Reserve Funds – 58 mln USD Sport and Culture – 43 mln USD Environmental
Protection 16 mln USD Those eleven categories (with the exception of
the Reserve Funds) are divided into the relevant sub-categories. A
careful study of the budget shows for example that the reserved funds
are equal to the total funds the government intends to spend on sports,
culture and the environment.

Approximately one-fourth of the budget is directed to the social
security sector, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, because Armenia
is an aging country with over half a million people receiving old-age
pensions. In addition, due to deep poverty, thousands of families
continue to receive family benefits.

Also, the huge amount spent on defense shouldn’t seem unusual, because
Armenians are in fact at war with Azerbaijan, and must also compete
in the arms race.

At first glance, there are also numbers that don’t seem so
reasonable. For example, Armenia spends twice as much on police as on
national security even as our country is surrounded by at least two
hostile countries — Turkey and Azerbaijan – and with whom we share
85% of our total borders.

The poster also demonstrates that according to official forecasts,
Armenia’s external debt has already reached $3,659,000,000, which is
about half again as much as the budget itself.

A country’s budget reflects both its priorities and its limitations.

This poster, which is available in English and Armenian, highlights
both Armenia’s choices and its existing capacity.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress