Minister of Finance: Servicing of Armenia`s state debt of is carried  out at a faster pace 

ArmInfo. On December 17, under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the government of Armenia held discussions on applications for budget financing of  government departments. Today, applications for budget financing of the RA Ministry of Finance for 2020 were discussed.

According to the Prime Minister's press service, the head of the  Ministry of Finance, Atom Janjughazyan, reported that optimization  work had been continued in his ministry over the past period: the  number of staff units was reduced by 31% compared to 2018, from 556  to 382. The Ministry of Finance's official fleet has been  significantly reduced - out of 17 official vehicles, the department  has retained 4 units.

Atom Janjughazyan also touched upon servicing the state debt of the  Republic of Armenia, noting that the process is being carried out at  a faster pace. According to him, Armenia continues to remain a  country with a low debt burden, and it is expected that in 2020 the  ratio of public debt to GDP will be below 50%.

The discussion also touched upon the development of the securities  market and the upcoming steps in this direction, the process of  reforming the public procurement system.

To recall, the state debt of Armenia in 2020 will amount to $ 7.6  billion or 51.2% of GDP (the calculated exchange rate of the Armenian  dram to the dollar is 476.4 drams). This is stated in the Law "On the  State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2020". Thus, despite the  indicator of the state debt at the level of $ 7.423 billion (3.612  trillion drams, the rate of the Armenian dram to the dollar is 486,  55 drams) set in the law "On the State Budget of the Republic of  Armenia for 2019" or 53.5% of GDP, the figure is expected to reach $  7.3 billion or 53.2% of GDP by December 31 of this year. At 2018 year  end, the indicator was at the level of $ 6.9 billion.

At the same time, government debt by the end of 2019 will amount to $  6.8 billion (3.3 trillion drams) or 49.6% of GDP, against the actual  $ 6.3 billion (3.1 trillion drams) or 51.3% of GDP in 2018. At the  end of 2020, the figure, having decreased by 1.4 percentage points,  will amount to $ 7.1 billion.

According to the forecasts of the Ministry of Finance, in 2020, the  repayment and servicing of the government debt of Armenia will  require 448.7 billion drams (about $ 942 million), not counting the $  402 million that the republic should have spent on paying off the  first tranche of Eurobonds, scheduled for September 30, 2020. The  financial authorities have already decided the issue by issuing the  third tranche of Armenian sovereign securities. Of the 448.7 billion  drams, 280.6 billion drams will be allocated to pay off the principal  amount of the debt, and 168 billion drams to pay interest rates.  Until 2054, the most peak in terms of servicing the public debt,  formed on December 31, 2021, will be the 2025th and 2029 - at about $  900 million.