All Major On-Budget Expenditures To Be Under Control Of Premier In A

ALL MAJOR ON-BUDGET EXPENDITURES TO BE UNDER CONTROL OF PREMIER IN ARMENIA

ARKA
Dec 4, 2008

YEREVAN, December 4. /ARKA/. All major on-budget expenditures are
to be under control of the premier for better confidence in their
efficiency, Armenian Premier Tigran Sargsyan said.

The Premier does not rule out that the government will turn down the
expenditures not supporting the GDP growth and will re-direct them
within the same ministries, the Premier said in opening the government
sitting Thursday.

According to Sargsyan, the programs planned for 2009 need to be
reconsidered. "We have all the required instruments for this; we
also have the accumulation in the Central Bank that can be spent more
freely in 2009 as the inflationary pressures have steeply reduced on
global markets, and the Central Bank of Armenia decided to bring the
refinancing rate 0.5% down," Sargsyan said.

The Premier pointed out that the country goes in the expansion policy
stage where inflationary pressures do not restrain the government
from expenditures. In this stage, the priority is to use all the
instruments that facilitate economic growth, Sargsyan said.

Quite bold results are planned under the 2009 budget and 9% economic
growth is quite a high indicator to be achieved in the conditions of
the global financial and economic crisis, the Premier said.

"This will require us to make extra efforts and actions, hence we
will steeply incr ease the on-budget expenditures, first of all in
infrastructures field, in capital construction and reconstruction
works in the earthquake zone," the Premier said.

The Premier stressed that in negotiations with international donor
organizations and partner-countries over additional funds will be
aimed at promotion of economic growth.

Under Armenian state budget for 2009, the revenues are 905.4bln AMD,
expenditures 945.4bln AMD, deficit 40bln AMD. The budgeted real GDP
growth is 9.2%, the inflation rate being 4±1.5%.

The budgeted AMD/USD exchange rate is 303.69 AMD/$1.

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