Additional capital injections into the Armenian state budget — €100m – will cause the 2010 draft budget to be revised, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan stated in Parliament.

The Government plans to revise the defense budget, the amount to be provided to the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), as well as the funds intended as compensation for the population’s savings in the USSR Savings Bank. The Premier said that Armenia’s defense budget will be brought up to 131bn AMD, as much s this year.

RA Minister of Finance Tigran Davtyan reported that the on-budget expenditures will exceed 930bn AMD. According to him, Armenia will receive additional fund, which are not yet included in the draft budget. Davtyan pointed out that Armenia plans to receive 24bn AMD under the U.S. Millennium Challenge program, as well as financial injections from the European Union (EU).

The Minister also reported that Armenia’s national debt will constitute 46% of GDP next year — 30% of it being the Government’s foreign debt, 13% the Central Bank’s foreign debt, as well as the internal debt. The Minister, however, is not concerned over the figures. Talking to NEWS.am, Minister Davtyan said it is an acceptable figure, as, under the Armenian law, the country’s national debt may constitute up to 60% of GDP. The Minister stressed that Armenia always repays its debts on schedule, and next year will not be an exception. Davtyan stressed that the Government has started negotiations over debt restructuring with a number of donor organizations. “So it is quite realistic for us to serve our national debt. Moreover, some of the credits, particularly the Russian loan, have been redistributed among economic entities,” the Minister said. Davtyan added that the Government has taken many of the proposals made by the parliamentary factions into account, particularly the ones concerning school construction.

The revision of the on-budget expenditures caused Parliament members’ discontent. In private talks with journalists they said they had been befooled – they were shown a draft, and all the key figures were to be revised later. According to the draft, the defense budget as 112bn AMD – almost 20% less than in 2009. Later, however, RA Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safaryan reported that the budget might be “revised upward.”