STEPANAKERT. – On Saturday, Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), or Artsakh, Prime Minister Ara Harutyunyan held a consultation, during which the 2015-2017 medium-term expenditure programs were discussed.

In the PM’s words, the general budgetary policy will remain the same, and the aforesaid programs will be benchmarks for the preparation of the country’s state budget, informed the NKR Government news service.

As per NKR Minister of Finance and Economy Spartak Tevosyan, the country’s revenues for 2015 will be less than expected due to a reduction in the annual interstate loan which Armenia provides. In addition, next year’s state budget will have a social direction yet again, and money will be allocated from the state budget to raise salaries and pensions between 10 and 18 percent.

PM Harutyunyan recommended to the heads of the NKR state departments to include the new programs in the next fiscal year because, starting from 2016, a revenue growth is forecast on the account of mining industry.

The NKR premier also urged to reduce the deficit as much as possible and to form next year’s budget spending—except for the social programs—in the margins of about 86 billion drams (approx. $207,077,445).