ArmInfo.The draft state budget for 2023 is the largest in the history of Armenia. Gevorg Papoyan, MP from the ruling "Civil Contract" faction, stated this on November 17 at a briefing.
He noted that the expenditure part of the state budget will amount to 2.6 trillion drams or about 6.5 billion dollars, exceeding the expenditure part of the state budget of the current year by 19%. As a result, defense spending will increase by 50%, social spending will increase by 12%, including the increase in pensions from July 1, 2023, which will allow increasing the average pension from 4 thousand drams to more than 50 thousand drams. From January 1, 2023, the minimum wage in the country will increase from 68,000 drams to 75,000 drams.
The MP stressed that next year the construction of road sections of the North-South road corridor will begin in the south of Armenia, this year the repair and construction of about 100 schools and kindergartens will be completed, the same number will be completed in 2023.
In turn, MP from the same faction Artur Hovhannisyan, commenting on the statement of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan on the readiness of the Armenian side to sign a framework peace agreement with Azerbaijan, noted that since it is currently difficult to negotiate with Baku on the details of the peace agreement, it is quite realistic to sign a framework document. The MP noted that the Azerbaijani side, often taking an unconstructive position, torpedoes the negotiation process. In this issue, the MPcontinued, it is very important to understand what development the initiative of the Armenian side will receive, but it is obvious that the issue of the sovereign territory of Armenia is a red line.
Gevorg Papoyan also touched upon this topic. Speaking about the possibility of signing a document between Yerevan and Baku before the end of this year, he noted that the signing of this document will, first of all, depend on how much the national interests of Armenia are observed. This process depends on both parties. The MP assured that no document would be signed if the "red lines" were violated.