Pashinyan: some 100 billion drams allocated to Artsakh government by Armenia since 2020 November
YEREVAN, August 27. /ARKA/. Since November 2020, the government of Armenia has released about 100 billion drams to finance a set of various social-oriented programs in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a government meeting today.
Finance Minister Tigran Khachatryan said although the economy in Artsakh is gradually recovering and the tax revenues are also increasing, they are still not enough to finance in full social and economic projects of vital importance.
According to the minister, some 13.4 billion drams have been provided to Artsakh government so far in additional funding.
Khachatryan said that about 3 billion drams of that amount will be paid as wages, 1.2 billion drams will be spent to pay the utility bills of the local population - electricity, natural gas and communication services. Also, some 787 million drams will be spent on social and educational programs and 2.6 billion drams on housing construction programs.
The minister specified that the financing will be carried out in two ways: 1.2 billion drams envisaged for repayment of utility costs will be provided as a grant, and the remaining 12.2 billion drams - as an interstate loan.
Earlier, the government in Yerevan pledged to allocate over 175 billion drams to Artsakh to finance various social programs. The beneficiaries of one of the programs are about 104 thousand residents of Artsakh, who have been receiving monthly payments of 68 thousand drams.
Under another program, the Armenian government is assisting the government in Nagorno-Karabakh to meet its financial obligations and compensate for property losses of legal entities resulting from last autumn’s 44-day.
The third program includes assistance to building houses for families who lost their houses during the war. This program is being carried out together with the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund.
On September 27, 2020, Azerbaijani armed forces, backed by Turkey and foreign mercenaries and terrorists, attacked Nagorno-Karabakh along the entire front line using rocket and artillery weapons, heavy armored vehicles, military aircraft and prohibited types of weapons such as cluster bombs and phosphorus weapons.
After 44 days of the war, on November 9, the leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia signed a statement on the cessation of all hostilities. According to the document, the town of Shushi, the districts of Agdam, Kelbajar and Lachin were handed over to Azerbaijan, with the exception of a 5-kilometer corridor connecting Karabakh with Armenia.
A Russian peacekeeping contingent was deployed along the contact line in Karabakh and along the Lachin corridor. -0-
