Armenian Budget Deficit At 4.4% Of GDP In Jan-Sept

ARMENIAN BUDGET DEFICIT AT 4.4% OF GDP IN JAN-SEPT

Interfax
Nov 2 2009
Russia

Armenia’s budget deficit totaled about 93.5 billion dram or 4.4% of
GDP through the first nine months of 2009, the National Statistics
Service reported.

Budget revenue totaled 475.3 billion dram or 22.4% of GDP, down 13.5%
year-on-year in the nine months.

Tax revenue totaled 357.4 billion dram (16.8% of GDP), which is 18%
less than a year earlier, including VAT receipts totaling 175.2 billion
dram (down 23.7% year-on-year), pretax profit – 63.7 billion dram
(down 3.2%), excise taxes – 30.7 billion dram (down 10.4%).

Revenue from the individual income tax rose 9.9% year-on-year to 42.4
billion dram.

Budget spending was up 5.6% in January-September year-on-year to
568.8 billion dram or 26.8% of GDP, including spending equal to 8.4%
of GDP on the social safety net, 4.2% on defense and 3.6% on education.

Armenia’s 2009 budget stipulates 905.4 billion dram in revenue and
945.4 billion dram in spending for a deficit of 40 billion dram or
0.96% of GDP.

The official exchange rate on October 30 was 386.37 dram/$1.