YEREVAN, September 22. /ARKA/. The Armenian foreign debt level has indeed increased significantly, but should still be sustainable and is expected to remain below 50 percent, IMF Resident Representative to Armenia Nienke Oomes said in an interview with ARKA News Agency.
“In 2008, gross state debt, which includes the government and the CBA debt, was around 16% of GDP, but it grew sharply in 2009 and is expected to reach around 37%. Given the attracted borrowings, we expect that the debt will grow further in 2010, up to 44%. The peak of the deficit will be reached in 2011, when the debt will be equal to almost 47% of GDP,” she said.
The debt should therefore remain below 50% of GDP, unless new large loans will be contracted.
“We think that the government has already contracted sufficient loans, a significant portion of which has not been received yet and will be disbursed in 2010 or 2011. Subsequently, we don’t think that there is currently a need for new loans,” Oomes said in her interview.
Armenia’s state debt has grown 19.9% reaching AMD 1186.3 billion by late September.
Of this amount, AMD 140.8 billion was internal debt and AMD 1045.6 billion or $2720,9 million foreign debt.
The country has considerably enlarged its foreign debt by borrowing $823 million from International Monetary Fund, $545 million from the World Bank and $500 million from Russia.
In the 2010 state budget, Armenia’s state debt is planned at $3.9 billion. -0–
