On June 6, the debates of the Annual Report on the Execution of the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018 continued during the joint sittings of the Standing Committees on European Integration and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs; on Foreign Relations and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs; on Regional and Eurasian Integration and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs; on Protection of Human Rights and Public Affairs and on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs of the National Assembly. Presenting the indices, Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan noted that both credit and grant programs are divided into two groups: the first is the non-affiliated to any program allocations, and the second is the funds intended and used for targeted programs. According to the Minister, currently, there are no European budgetary support loans.
“The 2019-2021 MTEF assumes that 2020 will be the last year to finance budget deficit with free, non-affiliated to any program loans. The goal is that we attract loans based on market conditions that we will use to meet our needs and ensure future growth in the economy”, - said the Finance Minister.
Minister Janjughazyan informed that 95 percent of the state budget revenues are generated from tax revenues, 4 percent - from other revenues, and about 1 percent comes from grants. “This is a developing direction and after a while, we will become a donor country”, - he emphasized.
The actual indicator of official grants for 2018 amounted to AMD 11.2 billion, about 4.6 billion or 41 percent of which - within the framework of the EU. AMD 11.7 billion of loans of European origin was spent, which had a 0.8 percent share in total expenditure.
There were 18 targeted grant programs and 1 non-targeted program - the Grant for European Cooperation Policy.
In 2018, AMD 17 billion 35 million was allocated for the implementation of the measures envisaged by the RA Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the actual use made AMD 16.64 billion or 98 percent. In the external relations section of the budget classification expenditures were realized in the amount of AMD 15 billion 963 million, the main part – AMD 10.1 billion, was used for the maintenance of embassies and representations.
“Last year was special, due to the Francophone Summit, within the framework of which AMD 1 billion 340 million or 94 percent of the program index was used”, - said the Finance Minister.
In 2018, AMD 2 billion 707 million was envisaged for the budgetary membership for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by the adjusted program, and AMD 2 billion 340 million or 94 percent was used.
For the staff of the Human Rights Defender, the 2018 budget provided AMD 440 million; the actual index was 411.8 million. 10 projects have been implemented.