1 / 3

The RA budget request of the Ministry of Environment for 2023 includes 6 programs and 24 measures, according to which, the presented amount of funding for the current programs is 7.496.603.9 thousand AMD without the costs of maintaining the Yerevan Zoo NCO, which is 9.2% more than the adjusted budget of 6.865.538.4 thousand AMD for 2022. The Minister of Environment Hakob Simidyan said about this during the debate of the preliminary version of the state budget for 2023 by the Standing Committees on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs and on Territorial Administration, Local Self-Government, Agriculture and Environment Protection.

Compared to the approved state budget for 2022, the maintenance costs of the Ministry have increased by 9.3%, which is mainly due to the increase in the expenses for the remuneration of the work of the Ministry and the Center for Education Projects (PIU).

According to the Minister, as a new non-financial indicator, the number of beneficiaries of the affected communities was also increased in 2022 on the recommendation of the Ministry of Finance, as well as the new indicators characterizing the measure - the number of environmental and health measures included in environmental programs.

Hakob Simidyan answered the deputies’ questions, which were related to the preservation of Sevan Lake, the level of pollution, the natural reproduction of the Sevan trout, the theft of forested areas and their preservation.

Referring to the issue of forestry, Hakob Simidyan noted that it is planned to allocate 413 million AMD to the sphere, which is allocated not only to the creation of new forests, but also to their preservation.

The Budget Office of the National Assembly submitted proposals and observations on the budget programs and their non-financial performance indicators.