Government Gives Thumbs Up to 2020 State Budget Draft in Extraordinary Meeting

Today, an extraordinary meeting of the Armenian government took place, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The Executive has approved the government’s legislative initiative regarding the draft law on the "2020 State Budget of the Republic of Armenia." Accordingly, the state budget for 2020 is projected to have revenues amounting to 1,697,618,538.8 thousand drams, expenditures at 1,880,186,389.8 thousand drams, and a deficit of 182,567,851.0 thousand drams.

The draft bill stipulates that the Central Bank of Armenia, during 2020, while making decisions on monetary policy within the framework of the legally reserved powers, will be guided by the target index of a 12-month inflation rate of 4 +/- 1.5 percentage points.

The government has also approved the legislative initiative on making amendments to the law on "Financial Equalization." According to the law, the effective date for the allocation of financial equalization subsidies is set for January 1, 2020. The necessity for the adoption of this draft is linked to the extension of the deadlines defined by Article 18 of the law by 2 years, to ensure that the calculations for subsidy amounts are carried out in accordance with the law for the years 2020 and 2021.