Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

What the Armenian Government Spends

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • What the Armenian Government Spends

    PRESS RELEASE
    The Civilitas Foundation
    www.civilitasfoundation.org
    One Northern Avenue, suit 30
    Yerevan, Armenia
    tel: +37410500119
    email: [email protected]

    What the Government Spends: A visual Guide to Armenia's Budget.

    Armenia's residents know how the government collects taxes, but few
    know how those revenues are spent. For that reason, the Civilitas
    annual report ARMENIA IN 2009: PROMISE AND REALITY, prepared a
    well-researched and detailed poster providing a visual explanation of
    Armenia's 2010 budget.

    The budget is divided into 11 fundamental categories:

    Social security - 649 mln USD

    General Public Services - 371 mln USD

    Defense - 360 mln USD

    Support to Different Economic Spheres - 300 mln USD

    Education- 265 mln USD

    Public Order, Security and Justice- 150 mln USD

    Health - 147 mln USD

    Housing and Utilities -123 mln USD

    Reserve Funds - 58 mln USD

    Sport and Culture - 43 mln USD

    Environmental Protection 16 mln USD


    Those eleven categories (with the exception of the Reserve Funds) are
    divided into the relevant sub-categories. A careful study of the
    budget shows for example that the reserved funds are equal to the
    total funds the government intends to spend on sports, culture and the
    environment.

    Approximately one-fourth of the budget is directed to the social
    security sector, which shouldn't come as a surprise, because Armenia
    is an aging country with over half a million people receiving old-age
    pensions. In addition, due to deep poverty, thousands of families
    continue to receive family benefits.

    Also, the huge amount spent on defense shouldn't seem unusual,
    because Armenians are in fact at war with Azerbaijan, and must also
    compete in the arms race.

    At first glance, there are also numbers that don't seem so
    reasonable. For example, Armenia spends twice as much on police as on
    national security even as our country is surrounded by at least two
    hostile countries -- Turkey and Azerbaijan - and with whom we share
    85% of our total borders.

    The poster also demonstrates that according to official forecasts,
    Armenia's external debt has already reached $3,659,000,000, which is
    about half again as much as the budget itself.

    A country's budget reflects both its priorities and its
    limitations. This poster, which is available in English and Armenian at
    http://www.civilitasfoundation.org/cf/images/st ories/budget_2010.pdf,
    highlights both Armenia's choices and its existing capacity.
Working...
X