Armenian NA approves amendments to Law on Budget System 

ArmInfo. The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia approved amendments to the law "On the budget system" in the second and final reading at the plenary session on February 12.

As Deputy Minister of Finance of the Republic of Armenia Vahan Sirunyan noted in his speech, the Government of the Republic of Armenia intends to harmonize the investment programs implemented in the country with the state budget of the Republic of Armenia. Currently, the management of the investment process is regulated within the framework of public-private partnership, according to which the process of assessing investment programs and their significance takes place. In parallel with this, the budget process is carried out during the development of the draft of the main economic law of the country, its approval and submission of reports on its implementation. Meanwhile, the country's budget system does  not have such concepts as "public investments", "investment program", which creates problems and leads to different interpretations. In particular, we are talking about how they are combined with budget programs. All these concepts will now be presented in the law "On the Budget System", thereby ensuring a connection between the two laws. It is proposed to establish that the concept of "public investments" will include all investments that are formed at the expense of the state budget and budgets of local authorities, including at the expense of credit and grant agreements concluded by the Government of  the Republic of Armenia without the acquisition of non-financial  assets and without the creation of non-financial assets that lead to the emergence of additional expenses or additional financial  obligations for the state budget. 

Public investments will be presented in the state budget of the  country as a separate program or event. For this reason, the concept of "state programs" is being streamlined, the priority in the implementation of which will be assigned to the Government of the Republic of Armenia.