Finance Minister: If there were no conflict between Armenia and  Azerbaijan, the RA state debt would be less expensive

ArmInfo. If there were no conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the RA state debt would be less expensive, as stated by Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan on March  19 meeting of the Parliamentary Committee on Economic Affairs.   According to Babken Tunyan, the head of the NA Committee, Armenia's  state dept is expected to increase approximately $450 million  following the results of the 5th tranche of Eurobonds worth $750  million. In turn, Vahe Hovhannisyan mentioned that a repayment of   $313 million is scheduled for March 26, 2025, on the Eurobonds issued  in 2025.

 It should be noted that in 2023, the Armenian government carried out  an early redemption of a portion of the 2025 Eurobonds  amounting to  $500 million (issued in 2015), which was approximately $187 million,  in order to .  Hovhannisyan  emphasized the importance of  the interest rate for servicing the  state debt, considering the global increase in debt costs in recent  years.

As the Minister pointed out, 12% of the budget is allocated for debt  servicing in 2025. In his opinion, this is a high figure and  consistent work should be carried out to reduce it. According to him,  this can be achieved in two ways - by reducing the debt or by  reducing interest rates. The latter is influenced by interest rates  on the international market and the country risk premium (CRP). the head of the Ministry of Finance clarified.