Tuesday, October 8 2019 17:47

ArmInfo.In 2020, 453.9 billion drams (about 953.5 million) will be required to repay and service the government debt of Armenia, which will be $ 7.330 million at the end  of the year. This is stated in the draft law "On the State Budget of  the Republic of Armenia for 2020". As a comparison, we note that in  2020 the budget allocations for education and science will amount to  about 160 billion drams, healthcare will receive 110 billion drams,

In particular, out of 453.9 billion drams, 284.7 billion drams (about  $ 598 million) will be allocated to pay off the principal amount of  the debt, and 169.2 billion drams ($ 355.48 million) - to pay  interest payments.

Thus, according to the forecasts underlying the document, the state  debt of Armenia by December 31, 2019 will amount to 3.538 billion  drams ($ 7.430 million) or 53.9% of GDP, from the total for 2017  3.349 billion drams ($ 6.923 million) or 55.8% GDP. According to the  results of 2020, the indicator will reach the level of 3.705 billion  drams ($ 7.780 million) or 52.2% of GDP (the calculated exchange rate  of the Armenian dram to the dollar is 476.17 drams).

At the same time, by December 31, 2020, government debt will amount  to 3.490 billion drams ($ 7.330 million) or 49.2% of GDP, thus  decreasing by 1.1 percentage points from the expected by the end of  2019 3.305 billion drams ($ 6.940 million) or 50.3% of GDP. According  to the results of 2020, the debt of the Central Bank will amount to  214 billion drams ($ 450 million) or 3% of GDP, against the expected  by the end of this year 233 billion drams ($ 490 million) or 3.5 GDP.  At the same time, the Armenian financial authorities plan to increase  domestic debt from 780 billion drams or $ 1,639mln (11.9% of GDP) in  2019 to 12.9% of GDP or 916 billion drams, $ 1,923mln (against the  actual for 2018 672 billion or $ 1,390 million, 11.2% of GDP).

And, if from 2009 to 2016 on average 4.2% of state treasury expenses  were directed to pay interest payments, in 2017 the figure increased  to 8.1%. In 2018, interest was paid for interest payments 139 billion  drams (instead of the actual ones for the year 2017, 122.1 billion  drams), namely 75 billion drams for external debt and 64 billion  drams for domestic debt.

In 2019, according to the indicators laid down in the approved  budget, Armenia will direct about 356.9 billion drams ($ 733  million), or 9.6% of the state treasury expenses, to repay and  service the government debt. In particular, out of 356.9 billion  drams, 198.9 billion drams were planned to be allocated for paying  off the main amount of the debt (85.2 billion drams for external debt  and 113.7 billion drams for domestic debt), and 158 billion drams for  paying interest payments.

In 2020, 169.2 billion drams will be allocated in the line of  servicing the government debt (interest payment) (about 9% of state  treasury expenses or 2.4% of GDP). Of these, 85.6 billion drams will  be used to pay interest payments on the domestic debt and 83.6  billion drams - external. 284.7 billion drams will be allocated for  repayment of the main amount of the government debt. Of these, 123.4  billion drams will be used to pay off domestic debt, and 161.3  billion drams - on external debt.

According to the results of 2020, according to the source, the World  Bank (WB) represented by the International Development Association  (IDA) continues to remain the largest external creditors of Armenia,  which accounts for 39.4% of external loans and another member of the  WB group - the International Bank for Reconstruction and development  (IBRD). The list of large creditors also includes the Asian  Development Bank (ADB) with 19%, the Eurasian Development Bank (EDB)  - 7.3% and the European Investment Bank with 3.5%. Among the  countries of creditors Russia is the leader - 10.5%, Japan - 4.8%,  Germany - 5.8% and France - 2.9%, followed by China and the USA - in  the amount of 0.5% and 0.3% respectively .

It should be noted that 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 mln.), in 2011 - $  4.134.7 mln. (with an increase of $ 329.6 mln.), in 2012 - $ 4, 372.1  mln. (an increase of $ 237.4 mln.), 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 in 2015, the indicator began to grow by "leaps  and bounds" - by the end of 2015, it reached the level of $ 5077.7  million, while fixing an increase of $ 636.2 million. The trend  continued in 2016, ensuring growth by $ 864.4 million, as a result of  which the indicator reached $ 5,942.1 million. By the end of 2017,  the total public debt of Armenia increased to $ 6.774.6 million,  instead of the figure of $ 6.512 billion laid down in Budget 2017.  Thus, over the year, increasing $ 832.5 million debt burden Armenia  accumulated $ 262.6 million more than planned. "Flight" of public  debt was stopped in 2018 - By the end of the year, the state debt of  Armenia amounted to $ 6,922.9 million, having increased over the year  by $ 148.3 million instead of the planned $ 372 million.