State debt policy is in government’s general agenda – PM

YEREVAN, MARCH 28, ARMENPRESS. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan says the issue of increasing or keeping unchanged the percentage of the state debt in the GDP is of strategic significance, and a decision must be made based on discussions, reports Armenpress.

“We have 13 projects which we have submitted to the EU, some of which can be called as mega projects. Our international partners are ready to participate in the implementation of these programs, but they also mention a very logical thing. They state that we also should invest money because it’s difficult to imagine that any international organization will finance a program by 100%. And our state debt policy is in our general agenda”, the PM said in the Parliament in response to the question of lawmaker from the Prosperous Armenia faction.

The Prime Minister noted that on the other hand active fight must be carried out against the shadow. He informed that according to the experts of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) there is up to 50-60% shadow in Armenia. “If we fight shadow, our GDP level will grow and the debt threshold in GDP will decrease. But maybe this will not happen. We should think whether we are ready to raise that threshold by 10%, making it 70%”, Pashinyan said, adding that this issue should be discussed jointly and then to make a decision.

Edited and translated by Aneta Harutyunyan