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
