YEREVAN, September 12. /ARKA/. According to Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan, the per capita debt is between $4,200 and $4,300.
He stressed that this amount should be assessed in relation to income and GDP.
“In 2018, the per capita debt to GDP ratio was about 5.6%. In 2024, it was 5%. This means that it is not the debt that has decreased, but our total income. At that time, our total per capita income was about $4,000, and now it exceeds $8,000. Moreover, income is growing much faster than our debt,” he said to the Public Television of Armenia.
Hovhannisyan also noted the decrease in the public debt to GDP ratio to 50% after 2020, noting that this figure exceeded 60% due to the consequences of COVID-19 and the Karabakh war. The Minister believes that Armenia’s debt indicators are relatively favorable.
“There is no need to alarm the public with figures like “$4,000” or “our debt has reached 12 billion.” While this may seem like a significant amount, other countries are dealing with trillions of debt,” he said.
In addition, Hovhannisyan noted that since there is no immediate demand for debt repayment, efforts should be focused on strengthening the country’s reputation to ensure lower interest rates on debt.
In this context, the head of the Ministry of Finance noted that the signing of the Washington Declaration on August 8 contributed significantly to this.
Soon after, we saw a decrease in the risk premium for Armenia in international markets where investors buy our securities. He noted that such low interest rates have never been seen before, but did not provide specific figures.
Fitch Ratings analysts believe that the signing of the peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan in Washington on August 8, 2025, although not expected to have an immediate impact on the ratings of both countries, could contribute to positive dynamics in the credit sector in the medium term.
According to the Ministry of Finance, Armenia’s total public debt as of July 31, 2025 reached USD 14.1 billion, up from USD 13.8 billion as of June 30, 2025, an increase of 1.78% over the month.
Compared with the figure as of December 31, 2024 (USD 12,842.2 million), the public debt increased by about 9.8%, and compared with the figure as of July 31, 2024 (USD 12,335.4 million), the increase was 14.3%.-0-
