YEREVAN, June 1. / ARKA /. Armenia’s state budget revenues collected in the first 4 months of 2017 were by 8.8% more than the amount collected in the same time span of last year, growing to over 383.2 billion drams, the National Statistical Service (NSS) said today.
According to NSS figures, more than 363 billion drams were collected as taxes and dues, an increase of 10.6% from the year before. Also 128.9 billion drams were collected as VAT, a growth of 10.5%, 19.5 billion drams were collected as excise taxes (a growth of 18.3%), 48.8 billion drams were collected as profit taxes (a growth of 6.5%), 18.4 billion drams as customs dues (a growth of 14.8%) and 102.8 billion drams as income taxes (a growth of 4.1%).
The state budget also received 16.7 billion drams as ‘other revenue, a growth of 10.9%. The government also received over 3.3 billion drams as official grants.
According to NSS, the budget spending declined by 3.6% to 375.5 billion drams. Of that amount 35% or 133.6 billion were paid as social security benefits and pensions, 50.4 billion drams were released as grants (a growth of 2.2%), 39.6 3 billion drams were paid as salaries (a growth of 2.7%), 35.3 billion drams were used to purchase goods and services (a decline of 17.1%), 31.8 billion drams were paid as interests (a drop of 17.9%), 30.1 billion drams as subsidies (a decline of 13.4%) and 54.4 billion drams as other expenses (a drop of 3.4%).
Non-financial asset transactions amounted to about 19.1 billion drams. As a result the budget deficit fell to 11.4 7 billion drams against 59.3 billion drams in the same period of 2016.
The state budget for 2017 calls for 1 trillion 210 billion drams in revenue and 1 trillion 360 billion drams in spending. The projected deficit is 150 billion drams or 2.8% of GDP. ($ 1 – 482 drams). -0-
