YEREVAN, November 19, /ARKA/. Members of the Armenian parliament have taken a four-day break today to think over and submit their proposals and suggestions after completing debates on the country’s next year’s budget.

Finance minister Tigran Davtian thanked the parliament for active debates over the draft budget, saying that some of the deputies have already made interesting proposals, which the government will consider.

He said the 2010 budget is a stabilization budget to prepare soil for future economic growth.

He said the government will carefully discuss all suggestions and proposals to make the final version of the country’s main financial document for 2010.

He said the outgoing year was extraordinary because of the global crisis’ impact. As a result, the parliament allowed the government to raise the budget deficit gap from 5% to 7.5%. But he added that this figure will be reduced to the before-the-crisis-level.
In reference to the foreign debt he said it is manageable and within the frameworks permitted by Armenian legislation and international standards.

According to the 2010 draft budget, the government plans to collect 676. 6 billion Drams of revenues, and spend 859.6 billion Drams. The deficit is projected at 183 billion Drams and the GDP at 3.214 trillion Drams. Armenia’s state debt is expected to hit $3.6 billion, economic growth is projected at 1.2%. The deficit to GDP ration is projected at 6%, down from 7.5% for 2009. -0-