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According to Article 100 of the RA Constitution and Article 41 of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly constitutional law, the National Assembly convened an extraordinary sitting on the initiative of the Government on December 12, with three legislative initiatives on the agenda. The draft law on Making Amendment and Addendum to the Tax Code of the Republic of Armenia included in the agenda will be debated by a special procedure by the NA decision. The debate of the second reading of the draft will be carried out within twenty-four hours after its adoption in the first reading.

The draft law on Ratifying the Green, Resilient and Inclusive Development Policy Operation Loan Agreement between the Republic of Armenia and the OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) Fund for International Development, which was signed in October 2023, was debated.

According to the information of the RA Deputy Minister of Finance Eduard Hakobyan, the Agreement envisages providing a budget support loan to the Republic of Armenia in the amount of 50 million euros.

“The funds will be directed to financing the deficit defined by the law on the 2023 budget or meeting the need for financing expenses, for which the National Assembly had already approved 350 million USD in budget support loans by the law on the state budget,” Eduard Hakobyan said.

According to him, work was carried out throughout the year to receive these funds, and they are based on reforms that have already been implemented.

Touching upon the name of the programme, why green and resilient, the Deputy Minister noted that they stem from the current global challenges, are aimed at mitigating the impact of climate change and promoting adaptation in Armenia, as well as improving air pollution monitoring.

Narek Grigoryan presented the endorsement of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs. The deputy mentioned that it is planned to fill the deficit of the state budget with the involvement of the credit facility.

Speaking on behalf of the RA NA Armenia faction, Artur Khachatryan considered it unacceptable to take a loan on behalf of other programmes for current expenses. According to his assessment, the Government is chronically failing all the international programmes and putting the citizens under a large external debt.

The MP of the opposition Faction assessed the Government’s activity as ineffective.

Speaking on behalf of the RA NA Civil Contract Faction, the Chair of the Standing Committee on Financial- Credit and Budgetary Affairs Gevorg Papoyan clarified that Armenia collects taxes to cover its current expenses, which are fully sufficient to cover pension, salary, and other current expenses. The mentioned tax funds are also sufficient for several hundred billion capital expenditures. Gevorg Papoyan, however, noticed that the state takes this money to implement a larger number of capital expenditures, therefore, “These funds are only aimed at inclusiveness, resilience, including defense,” he pointed out.

In his final speech, the Deputy Minister of Finance Eduard Hakobyan referred to the observations of the MPs and noted that the funds will not be directed to meet current needs, but on the contrary, they will be directed to expenses aimed at development.

The Parliament adopted the draft law by voting.