YEREVAN, December 8. /ARKA/. By a vote of 83 to 24 ad one abstention the Armenian parliament has passed today in the final reading the 2017 budget. The financial document was backed by lawmakers from the ruling Republican Party of Armenia, its junior coalition partner Armenian Revolutionary Federation/Dashnaktsutyun and several independent MPs.

The opposition parties which voted against the budget called it a step backwards from the anticipated economic development, stressing that it will not allow to solve a myriad of social problems.

Finance minister Vardan Aramyan said the 2017 budget calls for 1 trillion 210 billion drams in revenue. (The ratio of revenue to GDP is 22.4%), including 1 trillion 135 billion drams of taxes and 1 trillion 360 billion drams in spending (the ratio of spending to GDP is 25.2%). The projected deficit is 150 billion drams (the ratio of the deficit to GDP is 2.8%).

At the same time, Armenia’s overall state debt in 2017 is expected to grow to $6.245 billion, up from $5.849 billion of the outgoing year. The government also forecasts 3.2% GDP growth for next year and inflation rate of 2.4%. ($ 1 - 482.26 drams). -0-