ArmInfo.On November 28, the Armenian government approved a draft law on ratification of a loan agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD - the main lending institution of the World Bank) " Economic, Fiscal, and Public Sector Governance Development Policy Loan Project".
As stated in the draft decision, under the agreement, the IBRD will provide Armenia with a budget assistance loan in the amount of 45.8 million euros. These funds will be used to finance the budget deficit in accordance with the laws "On the state budget for 2019".
To note, the leadership of the World Bank approved the loan on November 20. It relates to the program of budget assistance to the Government of the Republic of Armenia <Development Policy Operation (DPO). According to the official statement of the WB, the EUR 45.8 million (about US $50 million) is an IBRD loan of fixed spread, with a 14.5-year grace period and a total repayment term of 25.5 years.
The operation supports the government's actions to strengthen economic, fiscal, and public sector governance by: improving pro-competition, pro-trade and streamlined quality regulations and processes; enhancing efficiency of revenue mobilization and public investment and strengthening anti-corruption initiatives and the performance of the justice sector and the civil service.
< The newly elected government, armed with a strong mandate for change, has put forward an ambitious five-year reform program, which aims to improve competitiveness and spur economic growth while meeting the people's demands for good governance, greater transparency, accountability and effective public services.>, it says in the accompanying text of the WB.
Earlier, ArmInfo reported that for the 9 months of 2019, the Government of Armenia attracted 96.7 billion drams from the borrowings planned in the annual plan in the amount of 225.4 billion drams or about $ 463 million. As stated by the Ministry of Finance, the government of the Republic of Armenia, through external loans, repaid more than attracted.
The "claims" of the financial authorities for attracting external loans for January-September 2019 turned out to be more modest, both through targeted programs - 38.1 billion drams out of the planned 164.2 billion drams ($ 337.6 million) were raised, and for budget assistance - only 0.8 billion drams out of the annual budget of $ 152.1 million (74 billion drams).
As stated by the Ministry of Finance at the end of 2018, presenting expectations for foreign borrowing for next year, the energy sector will receive $ 133 million of the $ 152.1 million indicated, of which $ 104.8 million will be allocated to the Armenian NPP restoration program. It was planned to raise $ 103 million for the public sector reform program, and only $ 45 million for road construction, $ 32 million for education, $ 17 million for rural and irrigation problems, $ 5 million for water supply, and $ 3 million for garbage collection