YEREVAN, April 29. / ARKA /. In the first quarter of 2013 Armenian tax authorities collected a total of 231.3 billion drams in revenue, while the government spending amounted to 206.1 billion drams. The resulting budget surplus was 25.1 billion drams, deputy finance minister and chief treasurer Artyom Janjugazian, said today.

He said the revenue collection figure was 3 percent more than projected, while government spending was 88.8% of the projected figure. Janjugazian said of 206 billion drams projected spending, 200 billion were spent on current expenses and 6 billion on transactions with non-financial assets.

This year’s first quarter spending was 19.2 billion drams or 1% higher than in the first quarter of 2012.

Mr. Janjugazian said also revenue collection figure was by 44.5 billion drams higher from a year before: some 230.8 billion drams were collected as domestic revenue.

He specified that 220 billion drams were collected as taxes, by 43 billion drams more than in the first quarter of 2012. He said the rise was due to the increase in VAT and customs duties. He said 5.4 billion drams were collected as off-budget revenues, 84.7% of the projected figure, while expenditures for the same period amounted to 2.9 billion drams or 39.3% of the projection. ($ 1 - 410.45 drams).