YEREVAN, November 3, /ARKA/.  IMF said in a statement that fiscal overperformance and dram appreciation have contributed to a significant decline in Armenia’s public debt, which is expected to drop to 51 percent of GDP this year from 60.3 percent of GDP in 2021.

The statement was made by Iva Petrova, IMF Mission Chief for Armenia, after an INF team visited Yerevan from September 26 to October 6 to discuss a three-year economic program supported by an IMF precautionary Stand-By Arrangement.

The Armenian Ministry of Finance expects the public debt/GDP ratio to drop in 2023 to a level not exceeding 50%. This expectation is based on the strengthening Armenian national currency, the dram, against major currencies.

According to the National Statistics Committee, Armenia's total public debt stood at about $9,992,116,000 as of August 31, 2022, having grown by a little over $19 million from the previous month.-0-