BY LATE 2007 ARMENIA’S STATE DEBT TO MAKE ABOUT 1.56 BILLION DOLLARS OR 19.1% OF GDP
Noyan Tapan
Nov 01 2006
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 1, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA government presented the 2007
draft state budget at the joint sitting of the RA National Assembly
standing committees on November 1. The revenues of the state budget
make 489.5 bln drams, expenditures – 557.8 bln drams, deficit –
68.3 bln drams (about 179.7 mln USD).
Speaking about the main orientation and ideology of the budget, RA
Minister of Finance and Economy Vardan Khachatrian noted that the
levels of the draft budget’s revenues, expenditures, deficit and debt
have been formed in the context of the government’s common long-term
and medium-term tax and budgetary goals. The minister presented the
macroeconomic indices that formed the basis for calculation of the
indices of the draft budget. Thus, real GDP growth is programmed at 9%,
GDP deflator – 4%, average annual inflation – 4% plus-minus 1.5%, the
settlements rate of 1 US dollar – 357 drams. The growth of commodity
import is programmed at 13.5%, export growth – at 16%. As a result,
the import and export of goods make 2.151 billion USD and 1.248 billion
USD respectively. The ratios of imports/GDP and exports/GDP make 31.7%
and 20.1% respectively. The ratio of overall state budget revenues/GDP
is programmed at 16.8%, the ratio of tax revenues and duties of state
budget/GDP – 15.7%, the ratio of state budget expenditures/GDP –
19.1%, and the ratio of state budget deficit/GDP – 2.3%. Accoording to
V. Khachatrian, external sources will prevail among finance sources of
the 2007 state budget’s deficit: they will account for nearly 60.5%
of the total. Domestic sources of financing the budget deficit will
include revenues of 8.5 bln drams from the sale of state securities,
as well as privatization and currency resources of a total of 19.1
bln drams. By late 2007, state debt is forecast to make about 1.56
bln USD or 19.1% of GDP. Foreign debt accounts for most of the state
debt – 87.7% or 1.36 bln USD.
"The programmed growth in foreign debt will not have a significant
impact on the country’s solvency, because a number of qualitative
indices either will not change or will change positively," the minister
said. In his words, by several indices Armenia is among the states
with a small debt burden, while by the ratio of foreign debt/exports,
it is among the countries with a middle-size debt burden.
From: Baghdasarian