ArmInfo. In 2020, the office of the Prime Minister of Armenia spent 18.5 billion drams (about $ 38 million) or 71.2% of about 26 billion drams envisaged by the adjusted program to finance 10 programs and 57 events, the acting Head of the RA Ministry of Finance Atom Janjughazyan said on June 4 in the parliament during the preliminary discussion of the annual report "On the execution of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2020".
The chief financier of the republic once again recalled that in the crisis year of 2020, the authorities did not cut costs, but, on the contrary, increased them in order to mitigate the negative consequences.
The office of the President of Armenia spent 1 billion 402 million drams or 95.6% of the specified program to finance 4 events. The expenses of the staff of the RA National Assembly for the implementation of 6 events in the reporting year amounted to 4 billion 787 million drams or 90.9% of the "revised budget".
The actual expenditures of the apparatus of the Constitutional Court during the reporting period reached about 601 million drams or 90.5% for financing 2 events, and the expenses of the Supreme Judicial Council - about 11.7 billion drams or 98.6% of 11.9 billion drams for financing 19 events. In 2020, the Ministry of Justice spent 18.1 billion drams on the implementation of 8 programs and 29 events, the implementation rate was 97.6%, the expenses of the Prosecutor General's Office for financing 3 programs and 8 events amounted to 5.8 billion drams, or 99.3% of the revised budget.
The actual expenditures of the State Control Service amounted to 583 million drams or 99.5%, the expenses of of the Council for the Prevention of Corruption- 121 million drams or 78.1% of the adjusted budget, and the expenses of the Investigative Committee for the implementation of 6 measures amounted to 98.7% of the adjusted program, or about 7.57 billion drams. ... The Special Investigation Service spent 751 million drams or 99.2% of the funds envisaged in the budget, while the Audit Chamber spent 1 billion 071 million drams or 99.7% of the adjusted program, and the CEC spent 785 million drams or 99.3% of the adjusted program on the implementation of 7 measures.
Referring to the fact that in 2020 due to the pandemic there was an opportunity to save money "for travel expenses", Janjughazyan noted that these funds were redistributed, in particular, in connection with the coronavirus, AMD 75 billion and AMD 124 billion were spent on military operations. At the same time, as pointed out by the acting Head of the Ministry of Finance, in order to implement the listed additional costs, the government was forced not only to revise its priorities, but also to attract new external borrowings that were not provided for by the state budget.