Publications Armenia's 2010 State Budget
Armenia's 2010 State Budget
Armenia’s residents know how the government collects taxes, but few know how those revenues are spent. For that reason, the Civilitas annual report Armenia in 2009: Promise and Reality, prepared a well-researched and detailed poster providing a visual explanation of Armenia’s 2010 budget.The budget is divided into 11 fundamental categories:
- Social security – 649 mln USD
- General Public Services – 371 mln USD
- Defense – 360 mln USD
- Support to Different Economic Spheres – 300 mln USD
- Education- 265 mln USD
- Public Order, Security and Justice- 150 mln USD
- Health – 147 mln USD
- Housing and Utilities -123 mln USD
- Reserve Funds – 58 mln USD
- Sport and Culture – 43 mln USD
- Environmental Protection 16 mln USD
Those eleven categories (with the exception of the Reserve Funds) are divided into the relevant sub-categories. A careful study of the budget shows for example that the reserved funds are equal to the total funds the government intends to spend on sports, culture and the environment.
Approximately one-fourth of the budget is directed to the social security sector, which shouldn’t come as a surprise, because Armenia is an aging country with over half a million people receiving old-age pensions. In addition, due to deep poverty, thousands of families continue to receive family benefits.
Also, the huge amount spent on defense shouldn’t seem unusual, because Armenians are in fact at war with Azerbaijan, and must also compete in the arms race.
At first glance, there are also numbers that don’t seem so reasonable. For example, Armenia spends twice as much on police as on national security even as our country is surrounded by at least two hostile countries -- Turkey and Azerbaijan – and with whom we share 85% of our total borders.
The poster also demonstrates that according to official forecasts, Armenia’s external debt has already reached $3,659,000,000, which is about half again as much as the budget itself.
A country’s budget reflects both its priorities and its limitations. This poster, which is available in English and Armenian, highlights both Armenia’s choices and its existing capacity.
Our last question was, "Which spheres require urgent reforms?" We suggested a few spheres to focus on: the political system, the economic system, the judicial system, education and mass media. Typically, we receive a similar distribution of answers on both the Armenian and English Civilitas sites.
|
| Economic Growth(1) and Per Capita GDP in thsd AMD(2), January-June |
|
|||||||||||||
| Comments & Sources | |||||||||||||
|
The overall objective of the project is to improve access to water for the population of remote villages in the region of Meghri. The specific objectives of the project are to restore and reconstruct the underground water supply system of wells and tunnels (chaheriz) in Alvank and Shvanidzor villages and to train and develop the necessary local capacity for continued further maintenance of the system.
|
The Civilitas Community shares stories about daily challenges and successes. Today: The lack of accountability
|
Archbishop Vicken Aykazian represents the Diocese of the Armenian Church of America (Eastern) in Washington and is currently serving as President of the National Council of Churches USA (NCC). |
|
| Read more |
Vartan Oskanian's interview to Gala TV
