Finance Minister: In short, Armenia is characterized as a steadily  developing country with high economic growth and low inflation

ArmInfo.In 2024, the financial authorities of Armenia successfully managed to maintain and even  reduce the public debt to GDP ratio, strengthen fiscal sustainability and ensure a stable level of revenue. Simultaneously, a decrease in the tax-to-GDP ratio was recorded, as stated by the head of the RA Ministry of Finance, Vahe Hovhannisyan, on June 13 at a meeting of the parliamentary standing committee  on financial, credit and budgetary affairs,  while presenting a report on the execution of the 2024 state budget.

According to the minister, real GDP growth in 2024 was 5.9% (slightly  below the 7% projected in the state budget). The revenues of the  state treasury of Armenia in 2024 totaled 2 trillion, 579 billion 200  million drams, failing short of the 2 trillion 723 billion drams  budgeted in the state budget budgeting, which represents 25.9% of GDP  - ed.).

By the end of 2024, the state treasury of Armenia was short by about  223 billion drams. The execution rate for tax revenues and state  duties was 92.7%. However, this did not prevent the authorities from  fulfilling their obligations, as Hovhannisyan added.

The reduction in the tax-to-GDP ratio in 2024 to 23.6% from 24.1% in  2023, as the minister pointed out, is due to structural changes in  the Armenian economy, the growth of sectors that do not have tax  potential and a decrease in the volume of car imports.

Other revenues increased by AMD 37.9 billion last year, primarily  because of the Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Plant (ZCMC)  transferred a significant amount of dividends to the state budget of  Armenia (AMD 33 billion 259 million).

In the reporting year, the deficit was lower than the planned level  at 3.7% (AMD 376 billion) instead of 4.6% (AMD 456 billion). The  average inflation rate was 0.3%.

, Hovhannisyan clarified, without going into  details. In 2024, Armenia's export volume reached $13.092 billion, a  53.1%  increase from 2023. Particularly, the export of Armenian goods  increased by 18.6%,  and excluding precious metals (imported, rough  processed and re-exported) - by 2.6%.

In 2024, Armenia welcomed 2,208,179 foreign tourists, a 4.7% decrease  from 2023, primarily due to a drop in tourists from Russia.

Unemployment in Armenia in 2024 rose to 13.9% in 2024 from 12.4% the  previous year, he admitted.  However, nominal wages and registered  jobs increased. The average salary in the public sector was 224,000  drams, and in the private sector - 111,000 drams. Real wages saw a  6.1%.increase. 

Armenia's public debt for 2024 increased by 6.2% compared to the end  of 2023, reaching 5 trillion 092.7 billion drams. In dollar terms,  the figure increased by 8.4% - to $12 billion 842.2 million. At the  same time, in relation to GDP, the public debt remained virtually  unchanged and amounted to 48.3%. However, servicing it for a long  time is more expensive (3.1% of GDP).  , Vahe Hovhannisyan noted