ARMENIAN NATIONAL ASSEMBLY’S HERITAGE OPPOSITION FACTION OPPOSED TO 2008 DRAFT STATE BUDGET
ARKA News Agency, Armenia
Nov 27 2007
YEREVAN, November 27. /ARKA/. Heritage opposition faction at Armenian
National Assembly intends to vote against the 2008 draft state budget,
Stepan Safaryan, the faction secretary said at Tuesday’s parliamentary
session.
The faction finds the 2008 budget "quite risky". Safaryan pointed
out Armenian dram revaluation, noting that the money transfers coming
from the outside make 10% of the budget’s revenue. He said he feared
volatile currency exchange rate might trigger problems.
The lawmaker said that one U.S. dollar was equal to 336 Armenian
drams in October, at the moment of the draft budget discussion,
while later the dollar plunged 10 to 13 percent. "It means we face
major risks connected with the outside financial means that ensure
the budget deficit repayment", Safaryan said.
He also said that the government has no well-thought-out program for
spurring industry development.
"We don’t play down the government’s intention to relieve people from
social problems, but think that it will be possible to reduce poverty
and bridge the gap between the poor and the rich under developed
industry. Under the present circumstances we can’t vote for a budget
containing such risks", Safaryan said.
Armenian government, taking into consideration lawmakers’ proposal,
increased the 2008 budget expenditure by AMD 3.747 billion.
In the final version, the revenue totals AMD 746 billion, expenses
AMD 822bln and deficit AMD 76bln.