YEREVAN, June 10. /ARKA/. Armenia’s public debt is soaring by $40-50 million a month, economist Vilen Khachatryan told reporters today.
According to official data, Armenia’s total public debt at the end of April 2016 stood at $5.252.1 billion, an increase of 1% or $56 million from the previous month. From the beginning of the year it rose by 3.4% or $173.3 million.
“Our public debt is growing by $40-50 million a month and will reach $5.6 billion by the end of the year,” he said, adding that the debt is growing faster than the economy – Armenia’s debt in 2015 increased by about $600 million, while the economic growth was worth only $300 million.
According to the National Statistical Service, the total public debt at the end of December 2015 reached $5.071 billion, up by 14% or $629.5 million from 2014 December. In 2014 Armenia’s GDP grew by 203.4 billion drams (about $426 million) to over 5 trillion drams.
Armenia’s foreign debt as of April 1, 2016 stood at $4.459 billion, while the gross debt of Armenia (it also includes corporate debt) reached $9 billion.
According to Mr. Khachatryan, this debt is an additional burden for the economy and taxpayers as the workforce is shrinking.
According to the state budget, the country’s public debt in 2016 is supposed to make 49.4% of GDP, up from 48.3% in 2015, while the ratio of external debt to GDP will amount to 42.8% against 42.3% in 2015 and the overall public debt by the end of 2016 will amount to $5.569 billion, of which 86.6% will be the external debt. 0–
