YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 20, ARMENPRESS. A Cabinet meeting was held on February 21, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

As ARMENPRESS was informed from the Office of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Avinyan presented the results published by the State Statistics Committee, which state that GDP growth was 7.6% in 2019, totaling 6 trillion 551 billion 849 million drams.

With reference to these figures, the Head of Government said: “We can state that we have recorded the highest growth since 2008, and I congratulate all of us on this. I hope that as a result of our joint work, we will achieve a larger figure in 2020.”

The Executive endorsed the proposal to sign the following financing agreements between the Armenian government and the European Commission: “Energy Efficiency and Environment,” “Empowering Local Stakeholders for Development,” “AGBU Reform Instrument.” The main goal of the project is to support energy efficiency and environmental initiatives in Armenia. The project aims to increase energy efficiency in residential buildings, public buildings, non-gasified communities and low-income households, as well as to reduce pollution of Lake Sevan. Deputy Prime Minister Mher Grigoryan advised that the total budget of the agreements amounts to 65 million euros.

Referring to the issue of energy efficiency, the Prime Minister emphasized: “Today, the citizens of the Republic of Armenia, we are all spending a lot of money on heating and cooling our offices, buildings and homes. And this amount can be reduced if we make serious investments in energy saving. To put it mildly, if we spend 1,000 drams to heat our apartment, if we invest in heat savings, we would expect to spend 700 drams, and for example, potential energy price hikes would not have a significant impact on our family or our overall budget. In this regard, I do believe that energy saving is of strategic priority.”

AMD 3,447 million will be made available from the Government Reserve Fund to fund the preparations for and the conduct of the referendum on the constitutional amendments, scheduled for this April 5. Concerning the decision, Nikol Pashinyan said: “I understand that there will be a lot of speculation and discussion about this, in general, because money is spent on the referendum. First of all, I would like to say that this money will go back into the economy, because that money will eventually lead to economic transactions. And second, yes, money needs to be spent to secure the free will of the people.

Last year’s snap parliamentary elections, too, cost some money, and all the elections that are taking place cost some money. And in general, democracy, and not just democracy, any state government implies public spending. So the discussions and speculations here are inappropriate. I think we should note that Armenia’s state budget revenues have increased by more than USD 1 billion over the past 1.5 years. And I think decisions like that can step up economic activity.”

Funds will be allocated to the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sport to provide financial incentives to Armenia’s best athletes. An awards ceremony shall be held, at which the 10 best athletes will get AMD 5 million each. In this connection, the Premier said that the Government should change the perceptions and approaches to sport: “Sport is of strategic importance to us.”

The Government next decided that the working day of May 29 will be moved to Saturday, May 23, 2020. Chief of Staff of the Office of the Prime Minister Eduard Aghajanyan noted that owing to this decision, the last 4 days of May will be non-working.