YEREVAN.  - In two weeks it will be clear which expenditures the government will reduce, Armenian PM Hovik Abrahamyan told journalists Saturday.  

“It will be clear how we will reduce the expenditures and [then] we will take actions. We have given the ministries three weeks to propose which of their expenditures can be reduced. The greatest reductions will be in State Budget Project of 2017 so that we have a more optimized budget and the costs are more efficient.  We are also reviewing the extra-budgetary expenditures for reduction: We will reconsider their cost efficiency,” he noted.

According to Abrahamyan, social dissatisfaction with the reductions is not ruled out, but, in his words, it is necessary to go forward.

“If there are people in one department of a ministry who work badly, why should they remain? Whoever works badly should be sacked. The plentiful expenditures of ministries will also be reduced: according to our instruction, all the ministers will go on business trips by economy class. There used to be no such limitation before, but considering the present situation everything should be spent efficiently. There will also be expenditure reductions in the MFA, Defense Ministry and police,” the PM said.