YEREVAN, March 14. /ARKA/. Armenian government’s debt-to-GDP ratio dropped in 2022 from 50% to 46.7%, according to Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan.
According to the government plan of actions to decrease the debt burden, the ratio was to drop to 60.5% in 2022 and to 53.8% in 2026.
The minister said the drop created an additional ‘resource of sustainability’ to withstand potential risks and challenges.
Speaking at a Monday meeting of the parliamentary standing committee on financial-credit and budgetary issues, the minister said the state budget deficit in 2022 was financed by treasury bonds to the tune of 252 billion drams or 79.2% of the total financing, and the rest was financed by foreign loans worth 66.2 billion drams or 20.8% of the total financing. Compared with the previous year, the share of financing from domestic sources increased by 38.6%.
“As of December 31, 2022, the share of debt expressed in drams was 37.9%, up 9.1% compared to the same period last year. This mitigated the sensitivity of debt to exchange rate fluctuations,” the minister said.
According to official statistics, as of December 31, 2022, Armenia’s government total debt stood at over $10.6 billion, having increased by about $373 million from November 30, 2022. The foreign debt stood at about $6.5billion (an increase of $236.4 million) and the domestic debt at about $4.2 billion (an increase of $136.4 million). -0-
