BY 2007 DRAFT STATE BUDGET, EXPENDITURES ON MAINTENANCE OF STATE
GOVERNANCE MACHINERY TO INCREASE BY 5.2 BILLION DRAMS
YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 3, NOYAN TAPAN. By the 2007 draft state budget,
the expenditures on maintenance of the state governance machinery
will make 40.5 bln drams, which exceeds the 2006 financing by
5.2 bln drams (about 13.7 mln USD). Presenting the issue of the
draft state budget-envisaged financing of the state governance
machinery at the November 3 joint sitting of the RA National Assembly
standing committees, RA Deputy Minister of Finance and Economy Pavel
Safarian said that 67% of the increase of financing is conditioned
by the planned growth in salaries of civil servants and the related
increase in allocations for social secirity payments. Particularly,
from January 1, 2007 it is envisaged to set the basic official
salary of civil servants at 35,500 drams instead of 30,000 drams in
2006. The total cost of this change is 1.2 bln drams. As a result,
in 2007 the average salary of civil servants will make 104,000 drams
instead of the current 87,000 drams. From July 1, 2007 it is planned
to increase the salaries of high-ranking officials by about 40%, for
which the draft state budget envisages additional financing of 676
mln drams. One of the peculiarities of the law on official salaries
of high-ranking officials to be adopted soon is that their salaries
will be set not in absolute figures but in comparison with the minimal
salary in Armenia. Salaries of other categories of employees of the
state governance machinery will increase by 20%, which requires
additional financing of 508 mln drams. According to P. Safarian,
the growth in the salary fund of the state governance machinery is
also conditioned by some structural changes, including the creation
of the Judicial Department and a growth in the number of employees
due to the increased functions of some state governance bodies. As a
result, in 2007 the number of jobs in the state governance machinery
will increase by 174 and make 15,329.5. The deputy minister said that
along with these financing changes, the share of expenditures on the
state governance machinery in the overall budgetary expenditures will
remain the same compared with 2006 – 7.3%, while their ratio to GDP
will decline – from 1.47% in 2006 to 1.37%.