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The defense spending is set to grow by 25.3% in 2020 under the draft state budget, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during parliamentary debates hosted by the Standing Committee on Financial and Budgetary Affairs on Monday.

“Compared to 2018, we plan a 25.3% increase in budgetary allocations for the defense sector in 2020,” the PM said.

According to him, there are some legislative regulations for military expenses, according to which they should not exceed 4% GDP threshold.

“We are going to pursue a little bit different logic when dealing with some military expenses in 2020. I hope that as a result of the changes also in the recent period, we will increase the volumes and results of the fight against corruption, with the outcomes to be directed to increasing the defense level of the Republic of Armenia,” Pashinyan noted.

The prime minister said some 1 trillion 602 billion drams in tax revenues are expected to be collected next year under the draft state budget.

He noted the proposed increase in budgetary allocations is 33% for the health sector, 41% – for education, science, sport and culture and 21% – for labor and social affairs.