Armenia`s minister of finance forecasts 5.8% and 5.6% GDP growth for  2024, 2025 respectively

ArmInfo. The draft state budget of Armenia for 2025 is another step towards the vision of the  ruling political force for the future of the state, aimed at strengthening resilience, stimulating the development of economic potential, and ensuring fiscal stability. This was stated by the RA Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan on November 12, while presenting the draft state budget of Armenia for 2025 to the National  Assembly of the Republic of Armenia. 

According to him, the main economic law of the country is aimed at  the sustainable development of the state, but each citizen of the  country or a group of people has their own demands and problems, and  it is necessary to find those points of contact that will satisfy  them. The Minister added that in recent years, the Armenian economy  has demonstrated a high level of resilience, including due to the  macroeconomic policy developed and implemented by the government and  the Central Bank. In many ways, it is thanks to this policy that the  country's economic growth rate continues to remain high.

In the first half of 2024, 6.5% GDP growth was recorded, and in  January-July of this year, the growth of economic activity was at the  level of 9.6%. Under these conditions, in 2024, the GDP growth rate  of Armenia is projected to be within 5.8%, and in 2025 - 5.6%. To a  large extent, the GDP growth was facilitated by the consistently  implemented policy of increasing spending on infrastructure projects,  increasing the competitiveness of Armenian goods in various markets,  improving the business environment, forming competitive eco-systems  for IT companies, and efforts to integrate internally displaced  persons from Nagorno-Karabakh into the labor market. The Minister  emphasized that according to the draft state budget, in 2025, tax  revenues to the state treasury will amount to 2.455 trillion drams,  and the GDP-tax ratio will improve by 0.2 percentage points. As a  result of tax administration and improvement of tax legislation, this  indicator is expected to improve by another 0.7% points, which will  lead to an increase in the share of taxes in the country's GDP to  25%.

According to the draft budget for 2025, under the conditions of  ensuring GDP growth of 5.6%, 3.5% GDP deflator and average inflation  of 3.6%, the state budget revenues of Armenia in 2025 will grow by  279.5 billion drams - to 2 trillion 873.1 billion drams (about $ 7.4  billion), which is 11% higher than the expected figure for the  current year, and 22% - the actual figure for 2023. State treasury  expenditures are planned at 3 trillion 482.4 billion ($ 7.8 billion)  or 31.5% of GDP. The figure is 13% higher than expectations for 2024  (30.4%), and 37% higher than actual expenditures for 2023 (27.5%). 

Of the planned expenditures for next year, 2 trillion 749.2 billion  drams will be current expenditures (24.9% of GDP). 733.2 billion  drams ($1.88 billion) or 6.6% of GDP will be spent on non-financial  operations (capital investments), which is higher than the planned  figure for 2024 of 695 billion drams ($1.79 billion), and the  expected 639.3 billion ($1.65 billion) - 6.3% of GDP expected by this  project.  According to the results of last year, capital expenditures  amounted to 472.6 billion drams or 5% of GDP. The deficit in 2025  will amount to 609.4 billion drams or 5.5% of GDP, against 482.9  billion drams or 4.6% of GDP in the budget approved for the current  year and 4.8% - according to this document.