ArmInfo. The government of Armenia in 2018 does not plan to revise the budget expenditures for social purposes. The Minister of Finance of Armenia Vardan Aramyan announced this on September 28 after the meeting of the government, during which the project "State Budget-2018" was approved.
The Minister noted that next year the Government is not going to increase social expenditures. "We are striving to stabilize our economic opportunities and potential, and only after that to initiate new social commitments," Aramyan said. Otherwise, as the minister pointed out, it is very dangerous to take such steps. In particular, if it fails to provide a 4-5% GDP growth, the state will be forced to attract credit funds to cover new social obligations. "Attracting loans to issue increased pensions and salaries is at least dishonest in relation to the population," said the head of the Armenian Ministry of Finance. The Armenian government today approved the draft budget for 2018. The total revenue of the state budget for 2018 is planned at a rate of 1 trillion 307 billion AMD, spending - 1 trillion 464.2 billion. The draft budget provides for the growth of current expenditures in the range of 2-2.5%. At the same time, capital expenditures increased by 80%, which will be used to implement infrastructure projects, to provide the basis for the expected economic growth. The deficit/GDP will be 2.7% - 156.9 billion, of which about 80 billion will be financed from external sources, the rest from internal resources.