Monday, September 2 2024 17:18

ArmInfo. In 2025, Armenia will have to repay a little more than $300 million out of the $500 million  issued in 2015. I think we will not have problems with this. This was stated by the RA Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan on September 2 at a meeting of the parliamentary committee on financial and  budgetary issues, presenting the execution of the state budget for January-June of this year. 

In particular, according to Hovhannisyan, the budget deficit for the  reporting period was financed mainly from internal sources, external  resources were directed to repayments. In January-June 2024, the  volume of budget deficit financing through net borrowing amounted to  76.2 billion drams (287 billion drams for the whole of 2023, and the  annual program for 2024 is 490.8 billion drams). 128.4 billion drams  were attracted from internal sources (net proceeds from the placement  of government treasury bonds), 52.2 billion drams from external  sources, with an annual program of 350.8 billion drams and 140  billion drams, respectively.  153.5 billion drams out of 345 billion  drams planned for the whole of 2024 (256.4 billion drams in 2023)  were allocated for servicing the government debt (payment of interest  rates).

As a result, by the end of June this year, the share of domestic debt  in the structure of public debt increased to 50.7% from 47.3% in 2023  (in dollar terms), and in dram equivalent - from 45.9% to 49.4%, with  the dram debt increasing from 45.9% to 49.4% by the end of last year.  At the same time, the public debt in dollar terms crossed another  psychological mark of $12 billion 157.2 million (from $11 billion  845.4 million by the end of 2023). 

In dram equivalent, the indicator decreased from 4 trillion 794.9  billion to 4 trillion 718.9 billion. In general, Armenia's public  debt continues to be manageable, Vahe Hovhannisyan noted. In  particular, by the end of June this year, the share of domestic debt  in the structure of public debt increased to 50.7% from 47.3% in 2023  (in dollar terms), and in dram equivalent - from 45.9% to 49.4% with  dram debt - from 45.9% by the end of last year increased to 49.4%.  The Minister pointed out that in the coming years, Armenia will have  to service a fairly large credit burden. <In 2025, the repayment of  Eurobonds is planned, which in turn sets us the task of managing the  situation more competently>, - he noted.

The situation with the upcoming repayment, as the minister  emphasized, is mitigated by the fact that the Armenian government in  2023 bought out part of the Eurobonds issued in 2015, with a maturity  date of 2025. In connection with this, the financial authorities do  not see any problems with the full repayment of the second tranche of  sovereign bonds in the amount of $500 million (Armenia issued the  bonds on March 19, 2015 for a period of 10 years and with an annual  yield of 7.5% set - ed.), noted Vahe Hovhannisyan. It should be noted  that according to the Ministry of Finance, in 2023, Armenia increased  its public debt by 11.4% or $1 billion 207.6 million - to $11 billion  845.3 million. During the reporting period, the government debt in  American currency increased by $1 billion 208.3 million or 12% - from  $10 billion 086.4 million by the end of 2022 to $11 billion 294.6  million, and in dram - by 602.3 billion drams or 15.2% - to 4  trillion 571.9 billion drams. Let us recall that the Strategic  Program for Government Debt Management for 2022-2024, approved by the  decision of the Government of the Republic of Armenia on July 12,  2021, stated that in 2024, Armenia plans to issue the next and  already fifth tranche of Eurobonds on the international market. "The  funds received from the issue of Eurobonds will be used to buy back  the bonds maturing in 2025," the document noted.