On November 30, the RA Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan presented for approval to the Executive the Draft Protocol Decision “On Approving the Amendments to the Indicators of Draft State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018 and the Summary Sheet of Proposals and Conclusions Submitted to the Government of Armenia by the RA National Assembly Standing Committees, Parliamentary Groups, Factions and Individual Deputies as a Result of the Discussion on the Draft State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018 at the RA NA Standing Committees and Plenary Session and on Other Issues Related to it”.
Vardan Aramyan noted that as a result of occurrence of new circumstances and information, after the first reading of the RA Draft Law “On the State Budget of the Republic of Armenia for 2018”, the expenditures were increased by AMD 15 billion. Minister listed the main components which particularly resulted in the increase of the expenses.
- The first component is the change of exchange rate as according to the RA Law “On Budgetary System”, the RA Law “On Budget” is submitted to the National Assembly as of September 1, after which during the second reading certain adjustments are made as a result of exchange rate changes. In this case, the change was within the range of AMD 5, which led to the change of AMD 1.5 billion in the budget in terms of expenditures.
- The second major part is the financing of “Armenia” detachment in the amount of AMD 1 billion which derives from both the issue on border security and Armenia's obligations under international treaties.
- The third component is the financial allocation of AMD 1 billion 289 million to the State Committee of Water Economy which is based on the application submitted by “Veolia Djur” CJSC: the Government subsidizes the increase of water tariff by AMD 11 not to cause any inconveniences the population.
- The next component is the financing given to the Government Staff in the amount of AMD 1.7 billion which comes from relevant adjustments and constitutional reforms.
- The largest increase in funding is in the health sector – AMD 4 billion. In this regard, the MPs have submitted 19 proposals, as well as detailed comments were presented by the Ministry of Healthcare.
- Reserve fund has been increased by nearly AMD 4 billion as well, since a number of events to be impleneted in 2018 can cause unexpected or anplanned costs.
The RA Minister of Finance mentioned that more than 100 proposals were submitted by the MPs: “There were some unaddressed proposals, for which we find it difficult to envisage any financing. There were also some suggestions that supposed to raise funding for this or that sector or to restore the previous year's funding format: most of these recommendations coincide with the healthcare sector. In other cases, of course, the proposals are actual, but we can discuss them in the future, taking into account our budgetary restrictions”.
After presenting the draft, Minister Aramyan asked the Prime Minister to provide two more days to make edits regarding the responses to MP’s proposals. After the respective amendments, the draft will be submitted to the National Assembly.