The state budget is first of all a political document and only then a financial one. Why political, because the state budget first of all reflects the political commitments and policies undertaken by the current Government and the ruling Faction that is its political support: The Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan said during the debate of the draft on the RA 2024 State Budget at the NA sitting on November 15.
“The state budget of 2024 is the largest in the history of Armenia in terms of expenditure and revenue volumes. The expenditures will amount to 3 trillion 17 billion drams, and I think they will even increase before the final debates,” the MP underlined.
According to the Committee Chair, in 2024, the state will spend about 7.5 billion dollars for various purposes: salary, allowance, pension, education, science, army, road construction, health care, etc. According to Gevorg Papoyan, next year’s expenditures are equivalent to the entire gross domestic product (GDP) of 2009, and in dollar terms, compared to 2009, they have increased about 3.5 times. For comparison, the rapporteur noted that five years ago, in 2018, that indicator was planned to be only 1 trillion 465 billion drams or about 3 billion dollars. “In other words, as a result of the popular, velvet, non-violent revolution, the expenses of the state budget increased in drams by about 2.1 times, and in dollar terms – by about 2.5 times,” the Committee Chair underscored and added that it is not about 10, 20 and 30%, but more.
Referring to the revenue part of the state budget, Gevorg Papoyan noted that compared to the planned 1 trillion 308 billion drams in 2018, in 2024 it will be twice as much – 2 trillion 676 billion drams. “It is noteworthy that when the current Prime Minister promised to increase the tax revenues by 30-40% within two years from the Republic Square in April 2018, the authorities of that time and the so-called experts unanimously considered it unrealistic, populist and mocked. It should be mentioned that the promise given from the revolutionary platform was not only fulfilled, but was over-fulfilled for the following years. This was done in the conditions of lowering the income tax rate for the hired employees.”
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Speaking about the reason for the next promise given to the citizens – that the annual average economic growth will be 7%, the rapporteur pointed out. “An average annual economic growth of 7% provides an opportunity to increase the gross domestic product by 40% in five years, and to double it in 10 years. 12.6% economic growth was recorded in 2022. For this year, around 8% or higher growth will be recorded. We have again targeted a very high economic growth of 7% for the next year. Thus, we can record that as of 2024, the promise of economic growth has not only been fulfilled, but also exceeded again.” According to Gevorg Papoyan, the best reflection of the indicator is the gross domestic product per capita, which, according to the International Monetary Fund, was just over 4.000 dollars at the beginning of 2018, while according to this year’s data, the indicator will be about 8.300 dollars. “With this indicator, for the first time in the history of independence, Armenia will be the first in the South Caucasus region, surpassing the two neighbouring countries,” the Committee Chair pointed out.
Gevorg Papoyan also touched upon the changes that directly affected people’s quality of life. “If at the beginning of 2018 the minimum pension was only 16 thousand drams, today it is about 2.3 times more – 36 thousand drams. This is one of the many cases that reflect the failure of the pre-revolutionary Armenian state.” According to the rapporteur, for the first time in the history of the RA independence, the minimum pension is higher, it is a higher number, than the minimum consumer basket. “This causes a feeling of pride on the one hand, and shame on the other. Proud to be part of the team that finally managed to give all our pensioners a higher pension than the minimum consumer basket. But as a citizen and an MP, I feel ashamed that for 30 years, our state has given a significant part of our grandparents a pension less than the minimum consumer basket,” the MP said, adding that completely different people who have been responsible for this issue for decades and today some of them or their relatives are sitting in the opposition part of the NA hall have reason to be ashamed.
Gevorg Papoyan emphasized that if in 2018 the minimum salary was 55 thousand drams, today it is 75 thousand: The increase is about 40%.
The deputy also spoke about the average monthly salary, the number of employees, as well as the increase in allocations to be directed to the fields of science, education, health care in 2024 and the realization of the social expenses. It was noted that the social allocations have almost doubled since the revolution.
Gevorg Papoyan, referring to the expenses of the defense sector, noted that it is planned to spend 557 billion drams next year. “The defense budget in 2024 will be 2.3 times more than in 2018.”
Summing up the speech, the Committee Chair said that the high growth of the RA economy in recent years is due to a number of factors, out of which, according to the MP, three are particularly important. “The first one is democracy, which ensured a sharp increase in the inflow of capital and labour to Armenia. The second is the capital expenditures in infrastructure, that is, the construction and overhaul of hundreds of schools and kindergartens, thousands of kilometers of roads, dozens of health centres, bridges, reservoirs, tunnels and other infrastructures. The third is the implemented reforms.”
According to Gevorg Papoyan, the Committee led by him endorsed the draft on the RA 2024 State Budget.
National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia
