Armenia The promise regarding public debt has been excluded from the government program. Share Share Add us on Google. Two and a half months after winning the parliamentary elections, the authorities have not included a key promise made to voters in the five-year government program. In the electoral program, they promised to gradually reduce the budget deficit so that they would take on less debt compared to GDP for implementing programs.
However, this line is absent from the five-year government program currently under discussion in the National Assembly, although Prime Minister Pashinyan personally made this promise before the elections. “Thus, we will carry out the process of gradually reducing the public debt of the Republic of Armenia.” As Nikol Pashinyan personally states, they have worked longer on the government program for the first time, and from the Prime Minister's words, it can be inferred that every formulation has been measured and shaped.
The authorities often become targets of criticism for doubling the burden of public debt. Although the ruling majority constantly insists in public responses that the debt is manageable and there are no risks, they also promised during the election campaign to alleviate this burden.
According to the latest data from July, Armenia's public debt exceeds 14 billion dollars. Just to implement the programs planned in the 2026 state budget, the government needs to take on another 537.5 billion drams, which is about 1.5 billion dollars at the current exchange rate.
According to Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan, although this line is not in the program, they have not abandoned that goal. “Our objectives have not changed because we have determined them based on a very important indicator, which is the reduction of the debt servicing amount.” The Finance Minister essentially agrees that servicing the debt is also a problem.
Weeks ago, the government decided to take new loans totaling 320 million dollars from the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank, directing the funds towards investments and trade liberalization.
