YEREVAN, DECEMBER 9, ARMENPRESS. The economic growth forecast in Armenia’s 2021 draft state budget has been revised: accordingly, 3.2% economic growth is forecast instead of the predicted 4.8%, Minister of Finance Atom Janjughazyan said at the parliamentary debate of the 2021 draft state budget.

“We have revised the economic growth forecast. It is forecast to be 3.2%”, he said, adding that this figure also requires efforts and hard work. The nominal value of the GDP has also been revised. It also had an effect on the budget figures, such as on incomes, in particular, tax incomes, budget deficit. “We treat 2021 as exceptional from the perspective of fiscal rules in a sense that it’s not known yet when the economy’s restoration will start and how long it will last. Therefore, the fiscal policy has been developed based on the logic which the fiscal rules require. In other words, we will have larger deficit – 5.3% of the gross domestic product, than we would have in other equal conditions”, the minister said.

He stated that this year the deficit is expected to surpass 7%. “It’s supposed that next year we will have a fiscal policy supposing fiscal consolidation and 5.3% deficit”, the finance minister noted.

The expenditures have also changed a little compared to the initial draft: they are comprising 1 trillion 850 billion drams compared to the planned 1 trillion 843 billion drams.

Reporting by Anna Grigoryan, Editing and Translating by Aneta Harutyunyan