News - Why Armenia defense spending to drop 0.3% against GDP? Finance minister explains

In 2024, the defense spending of Armenia will decrease by 0.3 percent against the country’s GDP. This was announced by opposition MP Artur Khachatryan during the second-reading debates on the 2024 state budget draft in the National Assembly (NA) Wednesday, as he read the respective part of this draft. "What? Have we [Armenia] become a more protected state, living in peaceful conditions?" asked the lawmaker. Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan responded that this is due to various circumstances. "We left it at the same level. When we say that it decreased by 0.3 percent, it does not mean that the amounts decreased in absolute terms; it’s just that our [Armenia’s] revenues are growing faster than the expenses that we have decided to allocate to the defense sector," explained the minister. To note, during the preliminary debates on the 2024 budget at the joint meeting of the NA standing committees, the finance minister had said that 42 percent of Armenia’s planned capital expenditures for the next year will be earmarked to the country’s defense sector.