PM Pashinyan Presents Strong Economic Situation in the Country

YEREVAN — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan described today the current economic situation in the country as ‘optimistic.’

“Our economy is showing stability. We have an economic growth of 8.6 percent in the first quarter, and the economic activity index in the first 4 months was 9.4 percent,” he said on Tuesday.

Pashinyan said this optimistic backdrop has been prompting an increase in passenger inflows to Armenia. “The balance of arrivals and departures is positive in favor of arrivals. For example, this morning when I was looking at the figures, I noticed that yesterday there were 1000 more people arriving than leaving,” he said.

“Our tax revenue collection projection for May is 119.1 billion drams, but we can confidently say that this indicator will reach 128.2 billion drams, that is 9.1 billion drams more than planned,” he said.

Pashinyan noted also that the 715 billion dram revenue target, projected for the first 4 months will be exceeded by 45 billion drams.

“Compared to the first five months of last year, we will collect 141 billion drams more in taxes than envisaged,” he said.

The 2022 budget calls for 1 trillion 947.8 billion drams in revenue (a 17% rise compared to 2021), and for 2 trillion 184 billion drams in spending (a 10% rise compared to 2021). The budget deficit is projected at 236.2 billion drams. ($1 – 449.56 AMD).

Addressing lawmakers in Yerevan, Pashinyan indicated that he hopes to keep up the growth in the months ahead with capital projects financed from the state budget.

“My instruction and mood is that we must concentrate on the execution of our budget, especially capital spending, so that we manage to meet our target of 7 percent economic growth,” he said.