Wednesday, September 28 2016 11:50

ArmInfo. On September 28,  the Armenian National Assembly amended the Law "On Financial  Equalization" in the first reading, and introduced amendments in the  Law "On Budget System".    

Deputy Minister of Territorial Administration and Development Vache  Terteryan said that the bill aims to ensure fair distribution of the  transfers from the budget among the communities of Armenia. He noted  that the law was adopted in 1998 and it was based on two major  principles - population size and capacities of the communities'  revenues, while the expenditure proportions were neglected.  Eventually, this resulted in imbalance of transfers. In particular,  some villages have more opportunities to secure income than the small  towns. "The new edition of the law implies detailed calculation  ratios for the needs of villages and towns, which will also take into  account the number of pensioners and children under 16," Terteryan  said. He added that financial equalization will also take into  consideration such factors as location of villages, particularly, the  mountain and high-mountain areas will receive more funds for fuel and  food within the framework of public services. According to the bill,  starting from 2017, the annual budget of any municipality shall not  be lower than the budget of the previous year. The deputy minister  stressed that the total amount of transfers for 2017 will be no less  than in 2016. Moreover, the increase will make up 1 bln AMD (nearly  $2.1 mln). The funds will be spent as per their intended purpose. 

Earlier, Minister of Territorial Administration David Lokyan said  that the amendments envisage additional transfers from the budget  (960 mln AMD) in 2017. The transfers for 2016 make up nearly 47 bln  AMD. 4% of the budget revenues is spent on these transfers. If the  budget revenues are increased in 2017, the transfers will also grow.  "The transition to the new system will be gradual and its full-scale  introduction is scheduled for 2020," Lokyan said.