Thursday, June 14 2018 10:44

ArmInfo.The National Assembly of Armenia approved at today's sitting the report of the government on the implementation of the state budget of the country in 2017.65  MPs voted for  the adoption of the document and  and 23 MPs voted against.

Yesterday presenting the report Minister of  Finance of Armenia Atom  Janjughazyan stressed that last year Armenia's GDP growth was 7.5%  instead of the planned figure of 3.2%. The growth of the country's  economy was also promoted to a considerable extent by the growth of  world oil prices, which led to an improvement in the situation in the  Russian Federation, the main trade and economic partner of Armenia.   As a result, a 44.6% increase in trade turnover was registered,  mainly due to trade with the Russian Federation.  The minister said  that the revenues of the state budget of Armenia last year amounted  to 1,237.2 billion drams, which is 5.6% higher compared to 2016.  Expenses also increased and amounted to 1503.9 billion drams, which  is 3.8% more than in 2016.  Janjughazyan noted that the deficit of  the state budget in 2017 was 266.7 billion drams. Moreover, the  deficit fell significantly due to the increase in debt, in  particular, due to the Russian military loan in the amount of 180.1  billion drams. Due to this, the deficit of 2017, according to the  estimates of the Ministry of Finance of Armenia, was 4.8% of GDP,  instead of 5.5% in 2016. During 2017 Armenia received from external  sources official grants worth more than 14.6 billion drams, of which  43% fall to the share of the European Union. Grants amounted to 41.7%  of the originally planned amount, that is, less than 20.5 billion  drams were raised.

About 27% of the expenditure part of the budget of Armenia in 2017  was directed to the payment of pensions and benefits. The second  place in the expenditures of the budget hold capital investments -  22%.  In this article, the share of interest payments on public debt  servicing is significant.  "The share of interest payments on  servicing the public debt is significant here, compared with 2016,  the figure increased by 1% .If 7% were allocated for debt servicing  in 2016, 8% in 2017, which causes some concern, but it is necessary  to make everything possible to keep it in a controlled range,  "A.Janjugazyan underlined, adding that at the end of 2017 the  country's debt amounted to $ 6.755 billion, of which $ 6.173 billion  was the government share, and the rest - the Central Bank. At the  same time, the external public debt amounted to $ 4.483 billion, and  the rest - part of domestic debt. In general, the minister continued,  the national debt was 50.8% of GDP, and Armenia continues to be among  the countries with a low level of debt burden.