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About 335bln AMD was designed by the mid-term expenditure programme approved for implementing the budgetary programmes of the RA Ministry of Finance by the preliminary version of the RA draft law on RA State Budget 2024. The RA Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan said about this during the working debate held at the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs on July 26.

According to the Minister, the structure is the fourth largest budgetary main executor, and the state debt supply sums of money are designed in the budget of the Ministry. Four programmes – State Debt Management, Training of Specialists of Public Sector Financial Sphere, State Policy Development in the Public Finance Management, Programme Systemization and Monitoring and Compilation and Coordination of Procurement Process will be implemented.

As Vahe Hovhannisyan assured, the deficit of the State Budget 2024 will be 302bln AMD, it will be financed at the expense of internal sources by 347.5bln AMD, and at the expense of external sources – on the amount of minus 45bln AMD, the financing from treasury bonds will be 300bln AMD, the allocation of loan transfers will be in the amount of 59bln AMD.

The RA Minister of Finance also informed that financial means are available for the implementation of the programmes of different spheres for 2024 by the state budget.

“We’ll keep all our promises: the minimum pension will equal the minimum food basket, and the average pension will equal the minimum consumer basket. The volumes of monetary assistance of the families with three children increased. The financial means are available for the construction of 500 schools and 300 kindergartens, at least the sums of money for the development of 500km road network are also designed,” the Minister noted.

During the upcoming three years 7% economic growth is planned, 9% - in favourable conditions. It is aimed to reach the capital expenditures to 6.6% in the GDP, the current expenditures – to 22%.

Regarding the state debt, it was mentioned that the debt will not exceed 49%. “We’ll not pass the threshold of 50%,” the Minister said and added that it is designed to release Euro bonds for the supply of the state debt 2025. At present, the state debt is 46.7%.

The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan inquired if the sums of money being provided to Nagorno Karabakh (NK) by the Republic of Armenia serve its purpose, if the money reaches to the NK people, because there is no sufficient trust that they serve its goal. According to him, the RA Government and the National Assembly should pay sufficient attention to the efficiency of those expenditures. It was noted that it will be necessary to demand cerain documents on them.

By Gevorg Papoyan’s proposal, the Minister of Finance referred to the allocation of the financial means by the Republic of Armenia to Nagorno Karabakh. Accordingly, it was planned to allocate 144bln AMD for 2022, but in reality 176bln AMD was provided. According to Vahe Hovhannisyan, part of the increase was conditioned by the fact that the colleagues of Nagorno Karabakh asked to allocate 12bln AMD in December 2022, and their request was fulfilled. The inter-state loan designed for 2023 for that reason became 132bln. But by the Government decision additional 20.4bln AMD was provided this year.

“Taking into consideration the created situation and the certain fact of the revenue overperformance by the Government in the first half of the year, preliminary studying the created macro-economic situation and the existing problems related to the collection of taxes in Nagorno Karabakh, the Republic of Armenia expressed readiness to add the amount of the allocating money up to 162bln AMD. If necessary, then we’ll add 9.6bln AMD, except the money we provide every month,” the Minister said.

It was noted that by mid-term expenditure programme 2024-2026 it is planned to allocate 144bln AMD inter-state loan to Nagorno Karabakh. “There is no discussion for any decrease. Taking into account the existing situation, we naturally add the amount of the allocating sums of money if possible,” the rapporteur underscored.

The Minister also stated that our policy is not to intervene to the use of inter-state loans allocated to Nagorno Karabakh.

Gevorg Papoyan documented that it is necessary to intervene, as they are the sums of money of the RA citizens, which are provided to the NK citizens in the form of loan. According to him, the RA citizens should be sure that those sums of money don’t become real estate in Yerevan and in other big cities. He also inquired if there were reductions in the NK state system after war, the salaries increased, what we supply there and what structures are revised for controlling them. According to him, they should mention in those structures for what and where are those sums of money spent.

Vahe Hovhannisyan noted that they discuss all the issues with their colleagues of Nagorno Karabakh. According to him, in the near future, the discussions will be held in distant format.

The questions of the Committee member Artur Khachatryan mainly referred to the state debt. In response, the Minister noted that there is no country in the world that does not give debt, and does not take debt.