ArmInfo. Capital expenditures in 2024 will reach 6.6% of GDP, which is 0.7% higher than a year ago. Minister of Finance of Armenia Vahe Hovhannisyan announced on October 30 at a parliamentary committee hearing on the 2024 budget.
In total, he said, capital expenditures will amount to 710 billion drams (which is 27% more than a year ago), of which 42% will be allocated to the defense sector.
Speaking about defense expenditures, Hovhannisyan noted that the latter are envisaged at the level of 555 billion drams, which is equal to 5.3% of GDP. The latter will grow by 7% year on year.
Next year, 755 billion drams will be allocated for social protection expenditures, which is 16% higher than the 2023 figure. "They will amount to 7.2% of GDP, with an increase of 0.2% over the year," the minister said.
It is planned to allocate 289 billion drams for expenditures in the educational sector, which exceeds the figure of a year ago by 39%. As the head of the department mentioned, such an increase is conditioned by the program of construction of schools and kindergartens. The share of the educational sector's expenditure in GDP will be 2.8%, which is 0.6% higher than a year ago. However, he said that this does not include the education costs of Artsakh students and schoolchildren. In this vein, Hovhannisyan noted that partners from the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports are summing up their reports.
It is planned to allocate 171 billion drams to healthcare next year, which is 14% higher than a year ago and amounts to 1.6% of GDP.
In 2024, GDP growth is planned to be 7% or 10 trillion 496 billion drams in absolute terms. According to the draft state budget, state budget revenues for 2024 are planned in the amount of 2 trillion 676.1 billion drams, or 13.1% higher than the expected figure for 2023 and almost 30% than the actual figure for 2022. State budget expenditures are planned at 3 trillion 17.4 billion drams, or 16.4% more than planned for 2023.
