Wednesday, November 7 2018 15:55

ArmInfo.Despite the fact that officially the country's budget deficit for 2018 has been adjusted to 161 billion AMD, taking into account the expected revenues and  expenses of the state treasury, the Ministry of Finance is inclined  to believe that by December 31 this year the indicator will still be  much lower not only of the above-mentioned figure, but also of that  which was fixed in the RA Law on the State Budget in the amount of  156.9 billion drams or 2.7% of GDP, making 103.5 billion AMD (1, 7% /  GDP). This opinion was expressed by Acting Minister of Finance of  Armenia Atom Janjughazyan.

Responding to a question by ArmInfo correspondent, the country's  chief financier explained that the reduction in the deficit was due  to the non-fulfillment of many of the planned expenses. However, he  does not believe that cutting of expenses will have negative impact  on the economy. "The most dangerous thing for the economy is  unpredictability. That is, many people have a wrong opinion that if  the state spent less than it planned, it is good in terms of savings.  Meanwhile, many people build their plans for the future based on the  statements of financial authorities ", Janjughazyan said. In this  context, according to the financial expert, the most correct point of  view is that any major deviation from the programs outlined by the  budget may have negative impact on the country's economy.

Meanwhile, the reduction of the deficit in the budget was caused by  specific credit programs, which were envisaged by the budget but were  not implemented. Many projects were revised, several were abandoned  altogether, a very small part is still waiting for its turn in the  last quarter of the current year. However, the fact is that the new  authorities are trying to understand the reasonability of  further  implementation of many of them is. There are some programs being  studied by the economic authorities to find the best ways to  implement them, Janjughazyan said.

In quantitative terms, the real "shortfall'' of this indicator was  recorded ''due to'' the refusal to raise funds for programs planned  for 2018 and financed from external sources. So, for the first 9  months of this year, only about 40% of the previously envisaged  programs were implemented. These are programs for the development of  road and water management, as well as energy projects.

To note from 2009 to 2014, Armenia steadily increased its state debt  by an average of about $ 245 million:  in 2009, as of December 31,  the state debt amounted to $ 3, 367.2 million, in 2010 - $ 3, 805.1  million. (an increase of $ 437.9 million), in 2011 - $ 4,134.7  million (with an increase of $ 329.6 million), in 2012 - $ 4, 372.1  million (an increase of $ 237.4 million), in 2013 - $ 4,588.5  million. (an increase of $ 216.5 million), in 2014 - $ 4,441.5  million. (an increase of 248.3 billion drams, and in dollar terms a  decline of $ 147 million). Already since 2015, the indicator began to  grow by leaps and bounds - by the end of 2015, reaching a threshold  of $ 5077.7 million, while registering an increase of $ 636.2  million. The trend continued and in 2016 - providing growth by $864.4  mln.  As a result, the figure reached $ 5,942.1 million.  By the end  of 2017, the cumulative state debt of Armenia rose to $ 6,774.6  million, instead of the figure laid out in the "Budget-2017" of $  6.512 billion.