Armenia`s state debt  reached $13.6 billion, with specific debt  burden per capita exceeding $4.4 thousand

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the per capita debt burden exceeded $4.4 thousand by April 1, 2025 (compared to $4 thousand a year earlier), showing a growth rate of 10%.  Moreover, the per capita debt burden from external debt increased from $2.1 thousand to $2.3 thousand (a 9.5% increase), and from  internal debt it rose from $1.9 thousand to $2.1 thousand (a 10.5% increase). This increase occurred as the population growth in Armenia slowed down over the year by 1.4% or  41.4 thousand people, reaching 3.081 million people by April 1, 2025. In comparison, the previous year saw a lower growth rate in the per capita debt burden of 8%, accompanied by a more significant population growth of 3.4% or 98.2 thousand people. 

As of April 1, 2025, the degree of coverage of external debt by gold and foreign exchange reserves by increased to 56.2% from 51.4% a year earlier. This growth was driven by an 18.8% increase in reserves and an 8.6% increase in external debt. In comparison, the previous year saw external debt shift  from a 4.5% decline to a mere 0.4% growth reversed their dynamics from a 26.7% increase to an 11.3% decline.  According to the Statistical Committee of the Republic of Armenia, the national debt of Armenia stood at $13.6 billion (5.32 trillion drams) as of April 1, 2025. This represents a slight slowdown in annual growth from 12% to 11.7%. The deceleration is attributed to  the faster growth of  external debt, while the growth of domestic debt continues to decrease. 

Specifically, external debt accelerated in annual growth from 0.4% to 8.6%, exceeding $6.98 billion (over 2.73 trillion drams), while domestic debt continued to stall in growth from 26.7% to 15.1%, reaching $6.6 billion (2.6 trillion drams). In the first quarter of 2025, the public debt grew by 5.8%, as a result of both an 8.2% increase in external debt and a 3.3% increase in internal debt, while a year earlier during the same period, the growth of the public debt was more modest (2.7%), accompanied by a 1.1% decline in external debt with a 7.3% increase in internal debt. In the structure of external debt, the Government's share increased year-on-year from 91.7% to 92.7%, with a decline in the Central Bank's share from 8.3%  to 7.3%, amounting in absolute terms to $6.5 billion and $510.5  million, respectively. Moreover, the Central Bank's external debt began to decrease, while there was a weak attempt to achieve growth in the Government's external debt. 

The government's external debt increased in annual growth from 1% to 9.8%, while the Central Bank's external debt  declined from 4.5% to 4.8%. In the first quarter of 2025 alone, both the government and the Central bank saw increases in their external debt 8.8% and 1.3%, respectively. This is a significant change from the previous year when  both entities experienced declines in their external debt (by 1% and 2.7%, respectively). Government bonds make up the majority of  the domestic public debt, increasing their  share to 93.5% by April 2025 from 90.6% the year before ($6.2 billion or 2.4 trillion drams), with a slowdown in the annual growth rate from 31.6% to 18.7%. 

The share of Armenian Eurobonds in the total decreased from 9.1% to 6.2% on an annual basis, totaling $410.4 million or 160.7 billion drams, with an acceleration of the annual decline from 1.6% to 21.3%. The remaining 0.3% (as in the previous year) was accounted for by internal guarantees - $21.6 million or 8.5 billion drams, with a reversal in the annual dynamics of the absolute value from a 19% decline to a 20.7% growth. In the first quarter of 2025, government bonds increased by 6.2%, Armenian Eurobonds decreased by 26.3%, and internal guarantees decreased by 10.4%. In the same period  a year  earlier, these indicators showed positive trends (8%, 1% and 1.1%, respectively).