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The National Assembly has a special role to play in the field of public financial management. In particular, the budget control function, the effective implementation of which is one of the priorities of the National Assembly.

In the near future, the parliament will discuss the annual report on the implementation of the RA state budget for 2021, then the budget programmes included in the preliminary version of the RA state budget for 2023. Taking into account that circumstance, a workshop on the theme “RA Budgetary Process: Programme and Gender-Sensitive Budgeting” was organized for the experts of the Standing Committees and factions of the National Assembly, the assistants of the deputies in Aghveran from April 29 to May 1.

It was held by the Budget Office of Parliament, within the framework of the continuous improvement of the capacity of the National Assembly, based on the request of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, with the support of the Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia (MAP) Project of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

The Coordinating Expert of the Budget Office of the National Assembly Gagik Barseghyan presented the budget process in Armenia to the participants, detailing the role of the National Assembly, the essence of programme and gender-sensitive budgeting and the characteristics of its implementation. The rapporteur also spoke about the activities of the Budget Office, the services provided and the opportunities to use them.

The expert of the Budget Office Ashot Yeghiazaryan also touched upon the strategic planning and its connection with the budget programmes. It was noted that only the existence of clear sectoral strategies allows to carry out accurate and effective budgeting. The role of the Budget Offices or the Independent Financial Institutes and the international experience on them were presented.

The participants inquired about the level of implementation of budget programmes, their evaluation forms, one-person procurement in the procurement process and possible changes in that issue, as well as toolkits of gender-sensitive budgeting and their application.

It should be noted that since 2019, the state budget of Armenia has been drawn up entirely in the format of programme budgeting.