Monday, May 24 2021 17:46

ArmInfo. Economic activity in Artsakh in 2020 fell by 23.2% due to the war and restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic. State Minister of Finance of the Artsakh  Republic Grigori Martirosyan stated this, presenting the main  socio-economic indicators of the republic for the reporting period.  On May 24, an annual report on the execution of the state budget was  presented to the National Assembly of the Republic of Artsakh.

According to the press service of the legislative body, according to  Martirosyan, the decline was recorded in all directions - GDP in real  terms in a 2% deflator decreased by 22.4% and amounted to 270.9  billion drams (against 342.5 billion drams in 2019 year). Inflation  was at 0.8%.

In particular, the branches of material production declined -  industry by 9.2 percentage points, trade and services recorded a  decline by 6.4 percentage points, construction by 2.4 percentage  points, and agriculture by 2.1 percentage points. Thus, the volume of  industrial production amounted to 103.2 billion drams, recording a  decline of 36.3%, construction decreased by 22.2% - to 50.3 billion  drams, agriculture - by 21.7% - to 56.5 billion drams, instead of  70.6 bln AMD for 2019. GDP per capita amounted to 1 million 820.1  thousand AMD or 3,722.0 US dollars instead of 2 million 307.6  thousand AMD or 4,803.0 USD for 2019.  The average nominal wage  amounted to 188,960 drams (against 175,522 drams in 2019), having  decreased by 7.7%.

Foreign trade turnover decreased by 36.3% and amounted to USD 417.8  million. The volume of imported goods amounted to 280.8 million US  dollars, recording a 24.7% decline, exports fell by 51.6% to 137  million US dollars.

The own revenues of the state treasury amounted to 49 billion 498.7  million drams, or 86.9% of the program indicator, against 56 billion  937.1 million drams in 2019. Tax collections from the state budget  with the planned indicator of 55 billion 969.9 million drams amounted  to 47 billion 781.1 million drams (85.4%). The ratio of taxes to GDP  was 17.6%. More than 78% of the tax revenues of the state treasury  were provided at the expense of large taxpayers. Budgetary assistance  - the budgetary loan from the Republic of Armenia amounted to 75  billion 124.0 million drams. The surplus of the state budget in the  amount of 2bln 064.9mln AMD was mainly directed to repayment of  borrowed funds.

The actual expenditures of the state treasury of Artsakh amounted to  122 billion 557.9 million drams or 89.7% of the program indicator.  The allocations for the fields of the economy amounted to 18.1  billion drams, decreasing by 31% compared to 2019. Thus, 5 billion  437.3 million drams were allocated for agriculture, against the  planned 6 billion 218.9 million, 4 billion 150.0 million drams were  allocated for SME programs. The energy sector received 3 billion  964.6 million drams from the budget, against 2.7 billion drams in  2019. Capital expenditures were fulfilled by 95.5% and amounted to 24  billion 077.4 million drams. Compared to 2019, capital expenditures  increased by 3.4% - up to 22.2% of total state treasury expenses.  Social security sector received 23 billion AMD instead of planned 26  billion 119.8 million 762.9 million AMD. The allocations for  education actually amounted to 14 billion 287.4 million drams against  the program indicator of 16 billion 266.2 drams, or 11.7% of the  total expenditures of the state treasury. The health sector was  allocated 6 billion 583.9 million drams against the planned 7 billion  811.7 million drams (5.4% of total expenditures), and the cultural  and youth sectors received 2 billion 846.3 million drams, instead of  the 3 billion 070.8 million drams provided by the state budget.