In 2021, 16.8 percent, or 336 billion drams, of Armenia's state budget expenditures went to the defense sector. Andranik Kocharyan, chair of the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee on Defense and Security and an MP of the ruling majority "Civil Contract" Faction in the NA, said this during Wednesday’s debates on the execution of the 2021 state budget, at the session of the NA.

According to him, the aforesaid is 7.6 percent more than the initially planned expenses.

"After the 44-day [Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh)] war [in the fall of 2020], we decided to review our expenses and their maintenance; this was necessary to ensure the stable security of our country," Kocharyan said.

However, as the MP noted, this amount is 13.3 percent less compared to in 2020, but which, according to him, is quite understandable and logical.

"In connection with the situation in which our country has found itself, it was quite obvious that the expenditure part should increase radically," the lawmaker said.

Armenia’s defense spending in 2021 amounted to 4.8 percent of the country’s GDP.

The expenses of the National Security Service (NSS) have considerably increased, especially with regard to the NSS border troops.