The fiscal policy goals for 2023 aimed to enhance economic growth potential, ensure debt stability, strengthen the security system, and comprehensively address the needs of our compatriots forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh, stated Armenian Finance Minister Vage Hovhannisyan during a joint meeting of parliamentary standing committees on May 29.
The minister highlighted an improvement in tax revenues: taxes and duties amounted to 23.4% of the gross domestic product (GDP), which is 0.7 percentage points higher than the previous year.
During the discussion of the main macroeconomic indicators in the annual report on the execution of Armenia's state budget for 2023, Vahe Hovhannisyan reported on the formation of budget revenues, expenditures, and deficit. It was noted that remittances from abroad decreased by 44.3%, driven by a 12.5% reduction from the US, a 26.6% reduction from other countries, and a 53% reduction from Russia.
“As a result of the reduced role of favorable external economic conditions for the Armenian economy, the pace of economic growth in 2023 slowed compared to 2022. However, thanks to the continued high growth in capital expenditures from the state budget and housing construction, as well as the economic impact of the sharp rise in jewelry production at the end of the year, it remained high, recording a real growth of 8.7%,” the minister emphasized.
According to the minister, in 2023, inflation significantly slowed down due to deflationary effects transferred from international markets since the beginning of the year.
