Armenia's Finance Minister presents key social and infrastructure programs for 2026 state budget
YEREVAN, September 25. /ARКА/. At a government meeting on Thursday, Armenian Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan presented key programs that will be implemented or continued in 2026 as part of the state budget.
Hovhannisyan announced that in 2026, Armenia will introduce a comprehensive health insurance system, continue the social support program for housing for Karabakh refugees, and reimburse expenses in the amount of 55 billion drams.
"A new system for assessing family insecurity will be implemented, which was piloted in two regions in 2025. Starting in 2026, it will cover the entire country with the goal of overcoming extreme poverty and reducing insecurity in Armenia," the minister noted.
According to him, the program to support individuals with bad debts, those outside the labor market, or those in part-time or formal employment will continue. The 2026 state budget plans to allocate 9.7 billion drams for these purposes.
"The cashback program for non-cash purchases for pensioners and benefit recipients will also continue. 20 billion drams will be allocated for this program in 2026, which is 7.6 billion drams more than in 2025," Hovhannisyan noted.
The minister also stated that, to implement the "Academic City" program, 4.9 billion drams are planned to be allocated in 2026 for design and construction work, international consulting services, and contract servicing.
"Major repairs of interstate, national, and regional highways and transport infrastructure worth 66.2 billion drams are also planned," Hovhannisyan said.
With a 30.6 billion drams loan, construction of the North-South road corridor will continue in 2026 on the Ashtarak-Talin (34 km) and Kajaran-Agarak (32 km) sections, as well as the construction and reconstruction of the northern subsection of the Sisian-Kajaran (60 km) and southern subsection, and the Bargushat tunnel.
The aviation support program will begin providing assistance to airlines that launch new passenger flights to Yerevan's Zvartnots International Airport and Gyumri's Shirak Airport. "3 billion drams are planned to be allocated for these purposes in 2026," Hovhannisyan said. ($1 = 382.72 drams)..-0-
