In 2021-2022 the budget of Artsakh has reached an unprecedented level: the budgetary support provided by the Armenian government to Artsakh has reached an unprecedented amount. The government of Armenia has stood, stands and will stand by Artsakh, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his remarks during the Parliament’s debate of the 2021 state budget performance annual report.
Pashinyan said that during 2021 the opposition has developed two main thesis according to which the government has left Artsakh alone, and secondly, they urged to adopt the resolution “Artsakh will never be part of Azerbaijan”, trying to justify that this has been their policy when they were in power, and if today’s leadership is not adopting it, it is a betrayal regarding the Artsakh issue.
The PM said the first thesis is denied just by the budget indicators. “In 2021-2022 the budget of Artsakh has reached an unprecedented amount, and the Armenian government’s budgetary support to Artsakh has reached an unprecedented amount. In 2019 the budget of Artsakh comprised 117.9 billio drams, which has been the highest in the pre-war period, I mean, since 90s. 57.8 billion drams of this money has been paid by the Armenian government. In 2021 the revenue part of the Artsakh budget has been 174 billion drams, 128 billion drams of which is the money paid by Armenia. In other words, the budget of Artsakh in the post-war period has been the highest in history, Artsakh has never had a bigger budget, and Armenia has never provided support with such a scale to Artsakh. Thus, Armenia’s assistance to Artsakh in 2021 has increased by 122% compared to 2019 or by 70 billion drams. And the budget of Artsakh has increased by 48% or 45 billion drams”, the PM said.
Pashinyan reminded that the government of Armenia has implemented a program worth 136 billion drams in Artsakh from December 2020 to the end of 2021. The salaries of employees of all budgetary agencies of Artsakh, the pensions and benefits have been paid that time with the funds provided from the budget of Armenia. The healthcare and education expenditures have been covered with these funds.
Coming to 2022, the budgetary support of the Armenian government to Artsakh comprises 160 billion drams, in other words the support provided by Armenia to Artsakh in 2022 has increased by 32 billion drams compared to 2021, and 102 billon drams compared to 2019. These funds contributed to the increase of pensions and benefits in Artsakh by around 20%, large-scale housing works are underway.
The PM said the government has not voiced this so much. “And I think we did right because this is our work. And the government of Armenia has stood, stands and will stand by Artsakh, no matter how much some circles do not notice it or try to sow contradictions between Armenia and Artsakh”, the PM added.
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