Economic growth for 2021 exceeded forecasts, amounting to 5.3%, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the National Assembly during a preliminary discussion of the implementation of the state budget for 2021 on May 31.

Initially, according to him, economic growth of 3.1% was predicted. Nevertheless, despite all the difficulties of the last year, the revenue part of the budget was overfulfilled by 147 billion drams.

“In terms of the tax-to-GDP ratio, a historic record was registered in 2021. It amounted to 22.7%. We have set ourselves the goal of bringing this figure up to 25% in the medium term. It will not be easy, especially against the backdrop of lower tax rates, but we will do it,” the prime minister noted.

He added that certain legislative amendments were made last year, which also contributed to the provision of additional revenues to the budget.

“The reason was the introduction of a state duty on the export of copper concentrate, due to which it was possible to provide additional income in the amount of 24 billion drams. Along with this, a reduction in the income tax rate was also envisaged, which together had a very interesting effect,” Pashinyan said.

Despite such rosy statements, ordinary residents of the country did not feel the consequences of economic growth - inflation is aggravated, food prices have risen.