YEREVAN. – The budget of Yerevan Municipality for New Year celebrations is 158 million 512 thousand AMD. In addition, this year the government has allocated more than 271 million AMD, which has allowed increasing the scale of the celebrations. Yerevan Deputy Mayor Tigran Virabyan said this at a press conference on December 11.

Thus, a total of 430 million AMD is allocated for the New Year celebrations in Yerevan.

Then, amid criticisms toward the Armenian capital city authorities, the deputy mayor emphasized that the city budget expenditures were reduced by 40 million drams as compared to the previous two years. This, Virabyan noted, in response to the remark that the current mayor had previously criticized the former authorities for excessive spending.

"In 2017, the city budget for the celebration was 199 million 46 thousand AMD, in 2018 - 167 million 860 thousand AMD," he noted. "Since the money was earmarked for New Year's Eve in Yerevan, it is logical that the organizing of the celebration will also be delegated to the city."

The deputy mayor explained that the money allocated by the government for these celebrations cannot be used for other purposes.