Armenia to outline 2011 budget

Armenian analyst Andranik Tevanian evaluated the draft 2011 budget which was approved by Armenian government as ill-thought out and badly assessed. The draft budget envisages GDP growth of more than 4%, with expenditures next year reaching USD 2.8 bln.

Tevanian believes it is a bad decision of the Armenia government to approve a budget that suggests covering the deficit using foreign loans. He points out that by 2011 Armenia’s foreign debt will be more than 40% of GDP and believes this to be an alarming figure. Up to 2008 Armenia’s foreign debt was USD 1.4 bln, while over the past 2 years the figure has almost doubled. It is very costly for the country to service such loans. Also, according to the analyst predicted GDP growth of 4% is unrealistic and has no confidence in the figures proposed by the country's executive body.