YEREVAN, September 28. /ARKA/. Although Armenia's aggregate state debt is likely to hit $7 billion by the end of 2018, the country will not default, finance minister Vardan Aramyan told journalists on Thursday.

Aramyan argued that the national debt pattern is quite good, and the major part of loans attracted from international lending organizations are soft loans, channeled into investment projects.

"Armenia's aggregate state debt may reach $7 billion by the end of 2018, or about 60% of GDP, but the government is not concerned, as Armenia is still ranked as a country with a low debt burden, since the main emphasis is on the quality of the national debt and its ratio to GDP, not on absolute numbers," Aramyan said.

The government expects that the national debt will reach $6.7 billion by the end of 2017. According to the finance ministry, Armenia's foreign debt will total $5.4 billion by the end of 2017. In 2016 the total national debt was 56.6% of GDP. By the end of this year it is expected to reach 58.8% of GDP. --0--