YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 29, ARMENPRESS. The government’s debt to GDP is expected to be lower than 53%, compared to the 60.3% of 2021. As for 2023, the government is planning to attract debt funds in a way so that by the end of the year the overall debt to GDP will be within 50%, Minister of Finance Tigran Khachatryan said at the Cabinet meeting today, presenting the 2023 state budget draft.

“The reliable management of the state debt will continue to have a vital significance for guaranteeing the macro-economic stability. The latest macro-economic developments and the appreciation of the dram led to the point that there will be a major improvement in debt-GDP ratio in 2021. If in 2021 the government’s debt to GDP was 60.3%, this year it will be lower than 53%. Taking into account the importance of stabilizing the government’s debt in a more manageable and secure environment, we plan to implement this policy also next year. Attraction of new debt funds in 2023 will be carried out in a way so that by the end of the year the government’s overall debt to GDP will be within 50%”, he said.

In his turn Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan also said that the state debt to GDP has significantly increased in percentages. He considered this an important indicator both within the country and for the external world. “The strengthening of the dram played a vital role here. Although there are some discussions there, I think that the fact that the dram is strong and stable, is also an important factor of our economic stability”, he said.

As for the GDP, the PM said that a double-digit economic growth is expected this year. “If our plans of this year are fulfilled, we even do not rule out that we will have such an economic growth rate that we can call the crisis gap of 2020 as overcome and already start a normal economic growth regime. But we need to note that ensuring the 7% economic growth for 2023 highly depends on the implementation quality of capital expenditures”, he said.

As for the 2023 state budget draft, the minister said that one of the key policies of the government’s 2021-2026 action plan is to increase the financial capacities of the public sector or the tax revenues of the government. Improvement of taxes-GDP ratio is the main indicator of that policy, which has been set to be 25% for 2026.

“This figure is forecast to be the 23.2% of the GDP with the results of 2022. In 2023 and the subsequent years taxes against GDP must increase by 0.5% annually, which is reflected in the state budget draft of the next year. In 2023 the tax revenues will comprise 2 trillion 204 billion drams”, he said.

The state budget deficit will comprise 3.1% of the GDP in 2023.

Major financial increase will be made for economic and social assistance programs. The allocations in healthcare sector will increase by more than 11.5 billion drams in 2023.