Armenia boosts defense to support education development - Finance Minister
YEREVAN, December 5. /ARKA/. Armenia is increasing its defense capability in order to be able to build schools and develop the education sector, Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan said in an interview with Public Television of Armenia.
He reported that the draft state budget of Armenia for 2025 includes an increase in expenditures for two major areas.
"In the draft state budget for 2025, there are essentially two main areas where expenditures will increase significantly: the defense budget, which will rise by 20% (a substantial amount), and social security, which accounts for the growing number of pensioners and other social assistance programs," he said.
Hovhannisyan pointed out that there is a certain nuance to this. “We are strengthening our defense capability to be able to build schools and develop the education sector, which is the most important investment for ensuring Armenia's long-term development,” the minister emphasized.
In addition, Hovhannisyan stated that the budget for the Ministry of Education, Science, Culture, and Sports for 2025 has also been increased by 107 billion drams. As part of this, an unprecedented program to simultaneously build 153 schools is planned.
About the Draft State Budget for 2025
On December 4, 2024, the National Assembly of Armenia approved the updated draft state budget for 2025, which projects a 5.1% GDP growth for the coming year. The planned average inflation rate is 3.5%.
The state budget revenues will total approximately 2.84 trillion drams, while expenditures will amount to 3.4 trillion drams. It was previously reported that the increase in budget allocations for 2025 primarily affected the defense sector (up by about 110 billion drams to 664.7 billion drams), the social sector (also up by 110 billion drams to 905.7 billion drams), the Ministry of High Technologies (up by 22 billion drams to 47.5 billion drams), and the education sector (up by 13 billion drams to 363 billion drams).
