Armenia’s Budget for 2023 to Increase to $6.4 Billion Largest in the History of the Country

YEREVAN — Armenian government plans to increase State Revenue Committee’s budget to  more than $6.4 billion. According to the Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan, this is the largest budget in the history of the country.

Most of the costs are planned for the social sphere at more than 25%, with defense in second place. Nagorno-Karabakh will receive the same assistance as this year at 144 billion drams [almost $370 million at the current exchange rate].

A draft law on the state budget was discussed at a joint meeting of the standing committees of the parliament.

During discussion of the project, the Minister of Finance noted that capital expenditures will reach 5.9% of GDP, which is 1.5% more than this year.

“Three-quarters of capital expenditures will be used to finance defense and security infrastructure,” Tigran Khachatryan stated.

The minister said that the 2023 budget exceeds the planned spending for this year by about one billion dollars.

According to Khachatryan, more than $1.6 billion will be spent on social spending in the form of pensions, benefits, etc.

Next year, defense spending will amount to 506 billion drams [nearly $1.3 billion], which is 35% more than in 2022.

Funding in this area is in second place. The first is the cost of social security of the population.

For 2023, the government projects $5.6 billion in tax revenue. This is at least $190 million more than expected in 2022.

During discussion of the bill, the Minister of Finance noted that next year it is planned to ensure a significant shift in the ratio of public debt to gross domestic product. He says: “We need to ensure that this indicator is not higher than 50% of GDP.”

According to Khachatryan, although there are many uncertainties, public debt and its servicing should be in a “reliable environment”:

“We must consider all possible developments in order to manage debt and not allow risks to arise for the implementation of government’s objectives.”