PM assures there is no problem in terms of Armenia’s foreign debt servicing

YEREVAN, MARCH 27, ARMENPRESS. Armenia’s foreign debt service is put on institutional basis, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in the Parliament, in response to the question of Prosperous Armenia faction MP Tigran Urikhanyan, reports Armenpress.

“It is even planned years before how we are going to serve that debt. It is envisaged by medium-term programs and will also be envisaged by new medium-term programs”, the PM said.

He added that based on the results of the 10-month activity of his government he is confident that they will be able to reach the solution of the declared economic issues. “Are there risks for that? Yes, there are, but they are not linked with Armenia, but with the global situation and global crisis. I hope that the economic model we are forming will be more adaptable in terms of resisting also external shocks”, Pashinyan said.

He reminded his statement that the 2019 state budget revenues will be over fulfilled by at least 40 billion drams. “Our economic indicators allow us to say that we will constantly increase the state budget revenues at the expense of economic growth and reduction of shadow economy. According to the assessments of international expert organizations, there is 50% shadow in our country. We should move on the path of taxing this shadow. But for this purpose there is an important precondition- the absence of corruption because these shadow money do not remain among the persons engaged in shadow economy, but in most cases various corruption scenarios are working”, he said.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan