Yerevan's 2020 Budget to Have a Deficit of 9 Billion 112 Million Drams Instead of Previous Years' 300 Million Dram Shortfall

According to the newspaper "Haykakan Jamanak", on November 27, city authorities will organize public hearings for the draft budget of Yerevan for next year. The newspaper's investigation has revealed that the capital's 2020 budget will have a deficit of 9 billion 112 million drams, while in previous years, the largest deficit was about 300 million drams, indicating a multiple increase.

Next year, the under-expenditure on expenses is expected to surpass previous years, especially considering that in 2018, for several months, Yerevan did not have a mayor. According to the main financial document of Yerevan, the city budget is set to have 107 billion 120 million drams in revenues and 116 billion 232 million drams in expenditures for the upcoming year.

The salary fund has significantly swollen, reaching around 40% of the city's own revenues. This means that nearly half of the budget will be spent on administrative costs, while only the other half will be allocated to solving the city's problems. Furthermore, the five-year development plan does not include a project for the transportation hub next to the "Hayrik" cinema, which caused considerable buzz back in February. However, Mayor Marutyan had promised to alleviate traffic with that project at the time.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.