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At March 9 extraordinary sitting, the National Assembly debated the draft law on ratifying the Letter-Agreement on the use of Stand-by Arrangement signed on 11 January and on 18 January, 2022 between the Republic of Armenia and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The RA Deputy Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan has noted that with the Letter-Agreement the IMF agrees to provide budgetary support loan equivalent to 51.428mln Special Drawing Rights (SDR) under the Stand-by Arrangement.

The contribution of the loans is designed during the first quarter of 2022. The loan will be directed to the financing of the RA state budget deficit for 2022.

The Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan presented the endorsement of the Committee.

To Gevorg Papoyan’s opinion, the goal is to invest money for the infrastructures promoting the economic development of Armenia in order to more easily allocate and cover this or other loans in the future.

In their speeches the opposition deputies touched upon the expediency of taking a loan and the negative consequences of the currency interest fluctuations.

The legislators referred to the peculiarities of the inner and foreign debt, the loan structure and the necessity of more effectively using the loan resources.

In his final speech, the RA Deputy of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan presented clarifications on the deputies’ concerns. He has assured that these loans don’t finance the current expenditures in any way, but investment is made in the infrastructures for increasing the gross domestic product (GDP) later.