REVENUES AND EXPENDITURES OF 2010 RA STATE BUDGET MAKE 742.1 BILLION AND 935.5 BILLION DRAMS RESPECTIVELY
Noyan Tapan
Dec 11, 2009
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 11, NOYAN TAPAN. The RA National Assembly on December
10 passed the draft law on the 2010 state budget of Armenia with 82
votes in favor, 16 votes against, and one abstention. Prior to the
vote, on behalf of the opposition faction "Heritage" Anahit Bakhshian
announced their faction’s decision to vote against, while head of
"ARF" faction Vahan Hovhannisian said on behalf of the faction that
they could not vote for the presented draft.
The revenues of the 2010 state budget of Armenia make 742.1 billion
drams, expenditures – 935.5 billion drams, and the deficit makes
193.4 billion drams.
The programmed revenues are by 18.1% less than the 2009 approved index
of 905.4 billion drams. According to the government, the reduction
in the 2010 budget revenues as compared to the 2009 programmed index
is conditioned by a reduction in the programmed amount of taxes and
state duties, which in its turn is a result of the Armenian economy’s
decline this year. The 2010 state budget revenues/GDP ratio is expected
to make up 23.1% against the 2009 programmed index of 21.7%.
The expenditures of the draft declined by 9.9 billion drams compared
to the approved index of the 2009 state budget of Armenia. The 2010
state budget expenditures/GDP ratio will make 29.1% against the
2009 programmed index of 22.7%. Current expenditures make up 82.5%
of the overall expenditures or 771.5 billion drams, net spendings
on non-financial assets make up 17.5% or 164 billion drams. Social
expenditures (on education, health, social security) make up 42.7%
of the overall budget expenditures, expenses on defence, public order
protection and national security – 19.1%, expenditures on various
branches of the economy – 17.7%, state debt servicing – 4%, provision
of official grants from the RA state budget to community budgets –
3.5%, and the formation of the RA government’s reserve fund makes
up 2.3%.
The budget deficit exceeds the 2009 approved index by 153.4 billion
drams. It has been programmed to make up 6.02% of GDP as compared to
the 2009 programmed index of 1%. It is envisaged financing the deficit
at the expense of net revenues of the domestic sources (99.6 billion
drams) and net revenies of the foreign sources (93.8 billion drams).
Credits equivalent to 356 million dollars (most of this sum will be
provided by the World bank) are envisaged for financing the deficit.
Nominal GDP is forecast at 3.2146 trillion drams in 2010 against
3.1162 trillion drams in 2009, the index of real GDP is forecast
at 1.2%. Inflation at the end of 2010 is forecast at 4% against 5%
in 2009.
It has been forecast that exports/GDP ratio will make 16% against
programmed 13.6% in 2009, imports/GDP ratio – 42.4% against 39.5%,
and foreign debt/GDP ratio – 44.3% against 36.1%. The state debt
will amount to 4.009 billion USD in late 2010, including foreign
debt of 3.566 billion USD. According to the government, the indices
characterizing the state foreign debt in 2010 will be mainly within the
limits of indices of the countries with a low or medium debt burden.
The draft budget was calculated based on the settlement exchange rate
of 386.41 drams per dollar.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
