ArmInfo.Armenia's national debt exceeded $9.992bln by this September - a 12% year-on-year increase, and an 8.3% increase this January-August. Specifically, Armenia's foreign debt showed a 5.5%, year-on-year decrease, with the domestic debt showing a 61.1% increase. This January-August, Armenia's foreign debt showed a 5.4% increase, with the country's domestic debt showing a 43.7% increase, reaching $6.4bln and $3.7bln respectively.
The government's share in Armenia's foreign debt decreased from 91.4% last September to 93% this September, with the Central Bank's share increasing from 7% up to 8.6% - $5.7bln and $540.6mln respectively. The Armenian government's foreign debt showed a 8.1% decrease, with that of the Central Bank showing a 15.6% increase.
The share of government bonds in Armenia's domestic national debt decreased from 95.4% last September to 89.7% this September (AMD 1,300bln or $3.3bln), with the absolute value showing an accelerating year- on-year increase of 51.5%. The share of Armenian Eurobonds in the country's domestic debt increased from 4.6% last September to 10% this September - AMD 149.6bln or $$369.6mln - with a 3.5-fold increase in the absolute value. The rest 0.3% (AMD 4.3bln or $10.7mln) is the share of domestic bonds, which were not effective from August 2019 to October 2021, with a 4% decrease recorded in their share this January-August, and an 18% decrease this June-August alone.
The national debt/GDP ratio was decreased from 67.4% in 2020 to 63.4% in 2021, with a 15.8% increase in the national debt and a 5.7% increase in the GDP. Last year, the foreign debt/GDP ratio decreased from 51.2% in 2020 to 45.7% in 2021, with a 9.8% increase in the foreign debt. According to the World Bank's forecast this October, national debt/GDP ratio will decrease to 61.3% this year, with a further decrease in 2023, up to 61% and a decrease to 59.9% in 2024. The WB also improved its GDP growth forecast for Armenia for 2022 - 7% against the previously announced 3.5%. This September, the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) improved its forecast for 2022 - 12.9% against the previous 4.9%. According to the statistical data, 5.7% GDP growth was recorded in Armenia last year after a 7.2% decline in 2020.
