Nikol Pashinyan: The economic revolution in Armenia begins to gain  momentum

ArmInfo. In 2020, the state budget revenues of Armenia will amount to 1.602 trillion drams and  will surpass the indicators of 2018 by 27.4%. On October 28, Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated this at a hearing in parliamentary commissions on the draft state budget of the country in 2020.

He expressed that the growth of the state budget revenues in 2020  will be obvious in comparison with 2019. At the same time, it is  provided that the consumable part of the state treasury of this year  It will surpass the indicators of 20018 (the year of the velvet  revolution) by 29.9%. Costs will mainly be aimed at developing human  potential. In particular, healthcare financing will increase by 33%  compared to 2018, education, science, culture and sports - by 41%,  labor and social issues - by 21%. In addition, 25.3% more financial  resources will be allocated for defense needs. In the defense sector,  there are some legislative regulations, according to which defense  spending should not exceed 4% of the country's GDP, and it is  necessary, the head of government continued, to remain within this  indicator. But in the field of defense, it is important to fix that  in 2020 there are expenses that will be incurred by the RA  government. The Prime Minister expressed hope that the funds raised  as a result of the disclosure of corruption-related crimes will also  be used to increase the combat effectiveness of the country's armed  forces. As a result of changes in a number of provisions of the Tax  Code, which will come into force on January 1, 2020, changes in the  social sphere are also expected. In particular, the salary of about  200 thousand citizens of the country will increase. At the same time,  we are not talking about raising the nominal salary, this process  will be directly related to changes in the income tax threshold.  Also, pensions will increase by an average of 10%, and from July 1,  2020, a one-time allowance for the birth of a child in the amount of  300 thousand drams is expected to increase. Currently, at the birth  of the first child, a benefit of 50 thousand drams is paid, for the  second - 150 thousand drams. In addition, the monthly childcare  allowance will increase from 18 thousand to 25.5 thousand drams. In  order to promote fertility, state programs will begin to be applied,  the process of a 10% increase in teachers' wages will continue, the  salaries of military personnel will increase by the same amount, and  the salaries of rescuers will increase by 30%. The salary of  foresters will increase by 20 thousand drams. 3 billion drams will be  used to solve housing problems of residents of the Spitak earthquake  zone. Currently, several models for solving this problem are being  discussed, some of which will begin to be applied this year.

In general, as the head of the government noted, a conservative  approach will remain in Armenia's GDP growth in 2020, which may seem  strange against the background of the government's ambitions. But  taking into account the already adopted medium-term expenditure  program, the need to ensure higher economic growth rates has been  fixed. In particular, in 2020-2022, the government set itself the  task of ensuring 7%, 8% and 9% GDP growth, respectively.

Nikol Pashinyan assured that the economic revolution is starting to  gain momentum. This, according to the Prime Minister, can be seen  with the naked eye. Large-scale investments are made in the republic.  Wherein, According to Nikol Pashinyan, the problematic issue is the  implementation of capital expenditures in the planned volumes. True,  this year some growth is observed in some areas of capital  construction.  Underperformance in other areas is associated with the  fight against corruption, which excluded such a thing as kickbacks.  In the medium and long term, there is a need to raise capital  construction standards, for example, in road construction. "As the  Prime Minister of Armenia, I am more than confident that the future  of the Armenian economy is good, and it is necessary to do everything  possible not only to maintain growth rates, but to increase them,"  the head of government concluded.