Ministry of Finance:  State budget is of limited  character and  conservative nature.

ArmInfo. About 339suggestions of law makers are received in respect to the Draft law on 2017 Budget, Vardan Aramyan, the Minister of Finance of Armenia stated at the National Assembly of Armenia, presenting the final version of the main financial law of the country.

Following the Minister, 31 suggestions of 339 are accepted, 104 are declined and clarifications are given due to 204. The Minister mentioned the impossibility of acceptance of all the suggestions, because the state budget is limited and has conservative  nature. At the same time, as Minister mentions, main macroeconomic indicators of 2017 budget are the same as those were in the first version>

Based on results of discussions on Draft Budget, the Government took a decision to make several modifications  in respect to some  items of revenues  and costs parts. Main changes to the revenues part are preconditioned by the exchange rates variations. As a result, the Government expects the decrease of revenue part  for about AMD 11 mln. The costs decrease will form AMD  16,1 bln, 13 bln of which will be formed of reimbursements of exceeding payments in respect to VAT . Other capital expenditures will form AMD 1,1 bln, and the reduction for AMD 327,4 mln is preconditioned with gas tariff change. 

Based on results of optimization of state NGO-s the Government expects the cost part reduction for about AMD 295 mln. The State NGO-s optimization is in the process still, and the savings in respect to that will be kept, Minister accentuated, adding, that the Law on Budget System allows to make further modifications to the document. At the same time, as Minister mentioned, the executive authorities plan to increase the budget expenditures. For instance, the reserve fund of the Government will be increased for AMD 8 bln, the Arpa-Sevan channel rehabilitation works will be funded with AMD 1,9 bln amount more than now, the targeted loans co-financing will be increased for AMD 2,1 bln, etc. 

The minister said that economic growth will make up 3.2%, deflator index - 1.7, and the deficit - 150.1 bln AMD. In 2017, the GDP deflator will make up about 101.7%. The budget 2017 revenues are expected to grow by 27 bln AMD to 1 210 bln AMD, and the expenditures are expected to decline by about 13 bln AMD to 1 360 bln AMD (22.4% revenues-to-GDP ratio). In the structure of revenues, tax revenues and state duties will amount to 1 135 bln AMD (versus 1 065 bln AMD  in 2016).