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Finance Minister Vardan Khachatryan is finding it difficult to rate the proposed 2008 budget, but he did say in the National Assembly today that 46% of the budget is intended to solve social issues. Khachatryan chose 15 pages of the 2000 pages of documents to read, thus presenting the approaches the government will use to realize its 2008 plans.

According to this, the income for 2008 is seen at 766.9 billion dram, with expenditures at 820.8 billion dram, with a deficit of 76 billion dram. In Khachatryan’s words, the salaries of government workers will be added to the budget, as well as those serving in the army and pensioners. The minister states that poverty has been reduced by 36.6%, decreasing to 29.8%. He added that the number of those in extreme poverty has also decreased. Also, families having more than three children will receive 300,000 dram, as opposed to the current 200,000 dram. “We can’t plan on these amounts for those families with average or above average incomes,” he said.

The budget will be fed mainly by customs and tax collection. Those not following tax laws will be held thusly responsible, the minister concluded.