ArmInfo. In Armenia, the per capita debt increase to $4.1 thousand by October 2024, compared to $3.8 thousand the previous year. Furthermore, the per capita debt burden from external debt slightly decreased, dropping from $2.2 thousand to $2.1 thousand, while the burden from internal debt rose from $1.6 thousand to $2 thousand during the same period.
This was observed alongside a 3.8% rise, equivalent to 112.7 thousand people, in Armenia's population to reach 3.067 million people by October 1, 2024. Additionally, there was a 10.4% increase in public debt, amounting to $1.2 billion. The growth in population was primarily driven by the relocation of citizens of Artsakh who were forcibly displaced to Armenia in September 2023, with a smaller contribution from people relocating from the Russian Federation, rather than natural population growth. As of October 1, 2024, the coverage of external debt by gold and foreign exchange reserves by decreased to 56.8% from 64% compared to the previous year. This decline was due to a 3.4% drop in external debt and a 14.2% decrease in reserves. In contrast, the year before, both external debt and reserves had increased by 6% and 11.4%, respectively. According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, Armenia's national debt exceeded $12.5 billion (over 4.8 trillion drams) as of October 1, 2024, showing a slow down in annual growth from 14% to 10.4%.
This is due to a decline in external debt, while domestic debt continues to grow. In particular, external debt shifte its dynamics from 6% growth to a 3.4% decline, while domestic debt accelerated in growth from 27% to 29.1%. As a result, their absolute values amounted to $6.296 billion (2.439 trillion drams) and $6.206 billion (2.404 trillion drams), respectively. Over the first 9 months of 2024, Armenia's public debt increased by 5.5% due to a 16.1% increase in domestic debt and a 3.2% decrease in external debt. A year earlier, over the same period, a 6.4% increase in public debt was accompanied by a 14.7% increase in domestic debt and a 1.1% increase in external debt.
In the third quarter of 2024 alone, public debt increased by 2.8%, driven by a 5% increase in domestic debt and a modest 0.8% increase in external debt. For comparison, in Q3 2023, public debt rose by 2%, with external debt increasing by 1.2% and internal debt by 3%. Regarding external debt, as of the end of first the 9 months of 2024, the Government's share slightly decreased to 91.7% from 91.8% compared to the previous year. Conversely, the Central Bank's share increased to 8.3% from 8.2%, totaling $5.774 billion and $521.6 million, respectively.
Furthermore, there has been an annual decrease in the external debt of both the Government and the Central Bank. Specifically, the government's external debt shifted from a 6.6% increase to a 3.5% decrease, while the Central Bank's debt declined further from 0.3% to 2%. Within the structure of the domestic public debt, government bonds continue to dominate, with their share increasing from 87.4% to 90.8% over the year. This amounts to $5.632 billion or 2.2 trillion drams, with an acceleration in the annual growth rate of the absolute value from 24.8% to 34%.
The share of Armenian Eurobonds in the domestic debt decreased from 12.3% to 8.9% year-on-year, totaling $555.9 million or 215.3 billion drams. There was a significant shift in the annual dynamics, going from a 45.6% growth to 5.6% decline. The remaining 0.3% or $17.6 million (6.8 billion drams) came from internal guarantees, showing an annual growth from 26.3% to 22.2%. Note that the public debt to GDP ratio increased from 49.2% to 50.5% in 2023, with the growth rates of both public debt and GDP slowing down from 15.3% to 11.4% and 12.6% to 8.7% respectively. Concurrently, the ratio of external debt to GDP decreased from 29.8% to 27.7% in 2023, with the growth rate of external debt shifting from a 3% decline to a modest 1% growth. In Armenia, the specific debt burden per capita rose from $3.6 thousand to $4 thousand in 2023. The per capita debt burden from external debt remained at $2.2 thousand, while the burden from domestic debt increased from $1.4 thousand to $1.8 thousand. This was observed against the background of a 2% increase in the population of Armenia, reaching to 2.991 million people by January 1, 2024. The public debt grew by 11.4% or $1.2 billion.
In 2023, the coverage of external debt by gold and foreign exchange reserves decreased from 63.8% to 55.4%. This decrease occurred despite only a 1% increase in external debt and a significant 12.4% decrease in reserves. The reserves reached a historical maximum in August 2023, but began to decline steadily each month thereafter. For comparison, we note that in 2022, external debt was in decline by 3%, while reserves demonstrated double-digit growth at 27.3%. As of January 1, 2024, Armenia's public debt exceeded $11.8 billion. Of this amount, $6.5 billion is external debt, and $5.3 billion is domestic debt. Additionally, a special note in the statistical report highlights that the structure of the domestic debt includes the issuance of AMGB1129A332 benchmark long-term government bonds. On December 28, 2023, the Government decided to allocate 206.358 billion drams of these bonds to financial organizations to address financial claims (property rights) arising from the tragic events in Artsakh in September, which led to the forced displacement of the entire population.
