From January to November 2024, Armenia’s state budget deficit reached $589.3 million, nearly four times higher than the same period last year.
This surge is attributed to the faster growth of expenditures compared to revenues, as indicated by the Ministry of Finance's bulletin.
According to the report, state revenues over the 11-month period totaled $5.76 billion, a 9.6% increase compared to the previous year. However, expenditures rose by 17.3%, reaching $6.35 billion.
Notably, the country’s financial authorities have already adjusted their forecasts for 2024. Initially, the budget was based on an anticipated GDP growth of 7%, but this projection has now been lowered to 5.8%. As a result, the treasury is expected to lose approximately $330 million in revenues, with tax and customs duty shortfalls amounting to around $400 million.
In response, the government plans to cut budget expenditures by $331.2 million. This includes reducing current expenditures by $187.8 million and cutting spending on non-financial assets by $142.1 million, bringing the latter down to $1.62 billion. Despite these adjustments, the planned budget deficit will remain unchanged at $1.22 billion, or 4.6% of GDP.
The original 2024 state budget law projected revenues of $6.91 billion (25.9% of GDP) and expenditures of $8.14 billion (30.5% of GDP), including $6.63 billion (24.9% of GDP) in tax and customs revenue.
