10:03, 1 March, 2022

YEREVAN, MARCH 1, ARMENPRESS. 17,7% more taxes were paid in Armenia in this year’s nearly 50 days compared to the previous year’s same period, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said in an interview with ARMENPRESS, when asked whether or not the government could revise the projected 7% economic growth and what actions the government must take to guarantee this figure.

Khachatryan said they’ve tried to understand whether or not they are now in a reliable interval against the projected figures of tax revenues.

“We recorded that 17,7% more taxes were paid this year compared to the previous year. And this is in line with the annual growth indicators which we have for 2022. Why is the government bringing forward the economic growth indicator in discussions with the public, for several reasons. Because first of all economic growth shows the result created by our population and the increase of revenues at the expense of it,” he said.

According to Minister Khachatryan, this 7% new economic value is created especially in the private sector thanks to the efforts of active companies who are producing goods, exporting or rendering services.

“The second question is what the government must do to guarantee or contribute to this 7% economic growth. The government is one of the major actors in the economy. We make more than 2 trillion in spending annually, most of which are spending of social significance, some are salary expenses, and some part are procurement of products and services. And all this together contribute to economic activity,” Khachatryan said.

Speaking about the kind of services which create new value in the economy, for example the construction of roads, reservoirs or implementation of economic projects aimed at the rapid development of individual sectors of agriculture, Khachatryan attached importance of how swiftly the government is making this procurement, how accurately the participants are explained with the intentions, how effectively it is cooperating with the participating or winning organization of the procurement in order to implement the work in time and in full scale.

“In all these issues our organizational actions with the private sector are directly contributing for the work to start and end within the timeframes. For example, we have planned for 2022 to make 60% more capital spending than it was planned for 2021, and in its value it is the size exceeding 350 billion drams: nearly 4,5% of the GDP. Compared to the previous year, these are very significant positive changes. And we must be able to organize it in a way so that we remain within the boundaries of what was planned in terms of time. And it is also this way that we should contribute for economic growth to be in the size that was planned. And I think that making decisions and following their implementation in a timely manner in all these issues is the action which the government must do, but of course not limiting to only this,” he said.

Asked if the government will achieve the 7% economic growth, the Finance Minister said they’ve numerously noted that they aren’t simply predictors. “The government doesn’t only project, but also has assumed obligations to fulfill it. And we not only project this, but we have the toolbox with which we are doing everything for this to happen,” he said.

However, the Finance Minister doesn’t rule out that the projected growth could not happen due to factors which don’t depend on the government.