ArmInfo. On October 1, the Armenian Government approved the draft state budget of Armenia for 2016. Armenian Minister of Finance Gagik Khachatryan pointed out that the real GDP for 2016 is estimated at 2.2%, GDP deflator index - 4%, 12-month inflation - 4% (+1.5%), budget deficit - 3.5% of GDP.
Expenditures will total 1 trillion 373.7 billion AMD, and revenues - 1 trillion 183 billion AMD AMD, with the deficit being 197 bln AMD. Taxes and duties will make up 95.4% of the revenues, and official grants and other revenues will be 2.6% and 2% respectively. Taxes and duties are expected to total 1 trillion 129 billion AMD, the grants within the European Neighborhood Policy are expected to amount to 24 million EUR or 13 billion AMD, and the grants under target programs will amount $35.6 million or 17.2 billion AMD. Other revenues will total 23.8 bln AMD in 2016.
Khachatryan said that current expenses will make up 96% or 1 trillion 244.4 billion AMD, expenses on non-financial assets will make up 9.4% or 129.3 billion AMD. The budget expenditures in 2016 will be by 68.1 bln AMD more than those in 2015. In particular, 47.3% of the expenditures will cover the social and cultural sectors - education, healthcare, social security, culture, sport, and information. 20.8% of the expenditures will cover defense, national security, and penitentiaries, 10.6% will cover economy sectors, 7.2% will be spent on the state debt servicing, 3.5% will cover community budgets, 6.7% will be spent on maintenance of state bodies, 1% will cover science, and 0.6% will be allocated for the emergency fund of the Government. The budget deficit will be financed by internal and external sources - 70.1 bln AMD and 120.6 bln AMD, respectively. Armenian Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamyan instructed submitting the draft state budget of Armenia for the consideration of the National Assembly.