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“The budget of the upcoming year stands out, it is indeed an ambitious budget. According to the Government Programme, we have planned to ensure at least 7% economic growth every year. Taking into account the fact that our economic growth will be 12-14%, it is a big leap to provide another 7% economic growth against a background of this growth base. It is important that this growth is not mechanical, but inclusive and as participatory as possible, not dependent on one or two branches, but with the involvement of as many people, spheres and companies as possible,” the Deputy Chair of the NA Standing Committee on Economic Affairs Babken Tunyan noted when speaking about the financial document of the upcoming year at the NA sitting on November 16.

According to the deputy, extensive work is being done while preparing the budget document. “Budgeting is a thankless job, and I want to thank the Ministry of Finance for carrying that main burden. Budgeting, they say, is a culture of distributing disappointments evenly, because everyone is always unhappy. It is important that all disappointments are evenly distributed,” he said and added that it is important to accept the version that provides the maximum benefit to the country. Babken Tunyan also highly appreciated the work of the NA Standing Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs, for discussing the document in detail at the joint sittings of the NA Standing Committees in the person of the Chair Gevorg Papoyan.

The deputy referred to the increase in the state debt as a result of the pandemic and the 44-day war and its consequences. It was noted that the debt/GDP ratio will be approximately 50-51% at the end of the year, which is due to the increase in the dram exchange and in the GDP. As a result of these two factors, the debt/GDP ratio has already decreased by ten percentage points from the permissible level, which will allow the Government to implement more measures next year.

Babken Tunyan reminded that it is planned to increase pensions, minimum and basic salaries in the next year.

“We will increase the basic salary, as a result of which the salaries of public employees will increase. We will reduce the bonus fund, not by the same amount, but it will turn out in such a way that, on average, public sector salaries will increase by ten percent. We are smoothly replacing the institution of bonuses with salary increases,” the Deputy Chair of the Committee said. He noted that the bonus fund will continue to operate to some extent, but it will be a tool corresponding to the logic of the bonus, that is, for motivation according to the result of work performance.

The deputy referred to the increase in capital expenditures. They will increase by about 50%, being about 550 billion AMD.

Speaking about the rate of economic growth caused by the flow of foreigners visiting our country, Babken Tunyan expressed opinion that one of the most important issues is to turn this economic impact, which is estimated to be short-term, into a potential for long-term economic growth.

Reference was made to the universal income declaration system. The system will be introduced from next year, and the relevant legislative regulations will be adopted by the end of the year. In declaration, the main emphasis will be placed on income, the part of expenditures will refer to the directions in which social credits will work.

Speaking about the execution of expenditures, Babken Tunyan expressed opinion that the problem is not only to collect taxes, but also to spend them at the right time, efficiently and completely. According to him, not paying the expenditures on time will cause more damage to the economic activity than not collecting a certain amount of taxes. The Deputy Chair of the Committee highlighted the adjustment of the result indicators and standards. “We should not discuss how much money we gave to such and such a minister and how much was spent. We should discuss whether, according to the program budgeting, these departments have fulfilled the plans set before them, have they achieved the goals? In order for it not to be too subjective, the evaluation criteria should be measurable and clear from the beginning, so that later we can understand what is happening,” Babken Tunyan expressed opinion that, unfortunately, there is still work to be done in this regard, and the budget discussions show that some of the partners of the Government have not fully mastered the rules of program budgeting yet, and we should work in that direction.

The deputy spoke about the relationship between the tax authority and the citizen, noting that the structure should be perceived as a service provider, not as a policeman of the state, as an enemy of the taxpayer or businessmen. It should be understood as a structure that helps businessmen or taxpayers participate in public administration with the taxes they pay. According to him, this perception has changed in recent year, and there is still a lot to be done in that direction.

During the Q&A session, measures to improve demography, steps aimed at promoting birth rate, and the effectiveness of budget expenditures were also discussed.