ArmInfo.In 2024, more than 805 billion drams or more than $2 billion will be required to service and repay the debt of the RA government (calculated US dollar exchange rate is 385.9 AMD $1), and the expenses of the Ministry of Defense will amount to around 560 billion drams. This is stated in the budget report of the draft state budget for the next fiscal year.
Thus, according to the forecasts underlying the budget, in 2024, in conditions of ensuring 7% GDP growth (and in case of favorable external conditions, it will reach even 9%), tax revenues of the state treasury (tax revenues and state duties) will amount to 2 trillion 566 billion 361 million drams, or 342 billion drams (15.4%) more than the adjusted figure for 2023.
State treasury expenditures in 2024, compared with the adjusted figure for this year, will increase by 15.9% or approximately 415 billion drams - up to 3 trillion 017 billion 437 million drams (426.5 billion drams more than the approved figure for this year).
Net expenditure on non-financial assets will amount to 6.6% of GDP or 23% of expenditure items. Capital expenditures (improving roads, building schools, reservoirs, hospitals, repairs, etc.) will reach 695.3 billion drams or 126 billion (22%) more than the figure for 2022.
77% of all expenses fall on current expenses (in 2023 - 78.9%). In particular, 22.1% of GDP or 2 trillion 322 billion drams will be allocated for the payment of pensions, benefits, salaries of public sector employees, interest on public debt, grants, purchase of goods and services, etc., instead of the 21.6% expected by the end of this year.
According to the document, the growth of current expenses will largely be facilitated by an increase in state budget expenditures (767.4 billion drams) on social and pension payments, which increased by 16.3% or 107.6 billion drams compared to the approved budget for 2023.
In particular, expenditures on salaries from the state budget will amount to more than 236.7 billion drams, or 12% (25.3 billion) more than the approved budget for this year. It is planned to provide a grant in the amount of 288.1 billion drams from the 2024 state budget, which is 7.4% or 19.8 billion drams more than the approved budget of this year.523.1 billion drams are provided for the purchase of services, goods and other expenses, which is 9.1% or 43.8 billion drams more than the approved budget for 2023.
Public services (services related to the defense of the country, ensuring internal security, maintaining law and order, as well as services that determine the performance of functions of state regulation of the economy, implementation of social policy) will "absorb" 19.7% of state treasury expenses or about 596 billion drams. Expenses on this line will increase by 16%.
But to service and repay the debt in 2024, the government will require 805.2 billion drams, of which debt repayments will amount to 483 billion drams, and 322.2 billion drams for interest payments or 3.1% of GDP (2.9% for the current year, 2.3% for 2022). According to the forecasts of the financial authorities, the public debt-to-GDP ratio will be 50.7% at the end of 2024, compared to the expected 49.4% by the end of this year and the actual 49.3% for 2022.The government's debt will be 48.4%, instead of the 47% expected for 2023 and the actual 46.7% for last year. In dollar terms, the government's debt by the end of 2024 will reach $11 billion 891 million, against the expected $10 billion 900 million for the current year and $10 billion 086 million for 2022.
About 26% of all expenses will be spent on defense, public order, security and judicial activities - 777.8 billion drams or 7.4% of GDP. By the end of this year, the figure is expected to be 723.2 billion drams or 7.8% of GDP (27.9% of expenses). Thus, expenses of the Ministry of Defense will amount to 555 billion, or 37.7 billion drams more compared to the 2023 figure (by 7.3%). Of this, 262,541.6 million drams or 47.3% will be current expenses, and 292,458.4 million drams or 52.7% are planned to be spent on non- financial assets. According to the draft state budget, 41.7% of all state treasury expenditures (or 12% of GDP) will be allocated to the social sector, against 40.6%-1 trillion 259 billion drams expected by the end of this year. Of this, about 293 billion drams will be allocated to the education sector (9.7% of expenditures or 2.8% of GDP), compared to 211.9 billion drams for this year (8.2% of all expenditures or 2.3% of GDP). 755.3 billion drams are provided for social protection (25% of expenses or 7.2% of GDP), against 653.5 billion expected for 2023 (25.2% of expenses or 7% of GDP). The healthcare sector will receive 170.7 billion drams against 149 billion drams for this year, and 40.5 billion drams are planned to be allocated for recreation, culture and religion against 36.4 billion drams provided for this year.
