State must save ‘budgetary means’ to end waste of resources – economist

In an interview with Tert.am, economist Tatul Manaseryan addressed the 2017 State Budget and Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan’s call for a tough approach to the chief fiscal document.

“I think it is first of all important to be very sparing and end what the prime minister called primitive theft,” he said.

In his words, the premier’s remark was a call for establishing a strict control in absolutely all areas to rule out abuse of resources.

“It is important to consider one very important factor. There is a long-term economic development program [proposing measures] until 2025, but none of [previous] two cabinets reflected that in the State Budget. I am hopeful this budget will mark a step forward in [the implementation] of the long-term program,” he said, adding that all the accentuations should be on the priority areas.

The economist noted that the Ministry of Finance faces a serious burden in terms of suppressing the foreign debt growth to prevent the budgetary deficit from increasing.