Parliament approves Armenia’s budget for 2019November 22, 2018 - 14:04 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The Armenian parliament on Thursday, November 22 approved thebudget for 2019, with 66 lawmakers voting in favor and 4 against, and 2 abstaining. Accordingly, budget revenues will stand ad AMD 1.462 trillion (approx. $3.017 billion), while expenditures will top AMD 1․614 trillion ($3.331 billion), creating a AMD 151․6 billion (more than $3.51 million) deficit. As reported earlier, the country is planning to increase defense expenditures by 25% year-on-year. Under the new budget, AMD 307 billion (more than $625 million) will be allocated to the Defense Ministry. From this sum, AMD 300.5 billion will be spent on military defense measures. The defense budget of 2018 had grown 17.6% against the previous year. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. Macron says France commemorates 109th anniv. of Armenian genocide Today France commemorates the 109th anniversary of the Armenian genocide of 1915, Macron says. Freedom House concerned by mounting reports of police violence in Armenia Freedom House urged Armenian authorities to investigate this pattern of excessive force and inhumane treatment. |