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Armenia’s state debt amounted to 5 trillion 116 billion drams as of June 30, 2026, Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan said.
Speaking at a parliamentary Committee on Financial-Credit and Budgetary Affairs meeting on the 2026 state budget execution for the first half of the year, he said that the state debt, in dram terms, decreased by 3.5% during the first half of the year.
He said economic developments in Armenia are in line with the Government’s forecasts.
“We have a 6.7% decline in goods exports in January-June. Imports increased by 4%,” the minister said.
Hovhannisyan noted that tourism recorded 14.8% growth, including 23.3% from the Russian Federation and 9.8% from other countries. The net growth in money transfers amounted to 21.7%. The growth in transfers from Russia amounted to 32.6%, while from other countries it was 8.6%.
“The economic activity indicator increased by 7.9%, driven by growth in the services, industry and construction sectors,” the minister noted.
According to him, the agricultural sector recorded an 11.9% decline, while construction grew by 24.5%, industry by 10.8%, services by 11%, and trade by 1%. In June, 12-month inflation stood at 5.1%, while average inflation in January-June was 4.6%.
“Deposits by residents increased by 24.3%, while lending grew by 22.6%. The number of employees increased by 3.5%, while the average salary increased by 5.5%. Amid 4.6% inflation, the real growth in the average salary amounted to 0.9%,” he said.
Referring to the performance of the state budget, the finance minister noted that revenues exceeded the planned figure by 6%, while expenditures increased by 7% compared to the same period of the previous year. Current expenditures increased by 16.1%.
“Capital expenditure execution stood at 56.4%, while compared to the previous year, it decreased by 28.3%,” the minister said.
According to Vahe Hovhannisyan, the 83.7 billion dram decline in capital expenditures was due to a 43.9% decrease in capital expenditures under the defense provision program. At the same time, capital expenditures financed from domestic resources, excluding expenditures of the Ministry of Defense, increased by 42.4%.