NA approved the 2011 state budget
The RA National Assembly approved the 2011 state budget with 80 for, 14 against and 2 neutral.
"The ARF is going to vote against the 2011 state budget draft," announced ARF MP Artsvik Minasyan on behalf of the ARF before the vote. According to him, the Armenian government's plan to get out of the economic crisis has failed.
"The government didn't learn its lessons and is continuing to monopolize the economic field. The political crisis is a contributing factor."
Artsvik Minasyan blamed the political majority for turning the discussion of all important issues into a formal one.
Before the vote, BHK (Prosperous Armenia) representative Vardan Bostanjyan announced that the BHK welcomes Serzh Sargsyan for increasing the defense budget by 5-6 billion drams.
The BHK says the next issue is the improvement of the people's social-economic conditions. "The BHK is in favor of voting for the draft budget, being rest assured that the government's steps will be on time and we are ready to support."
The OEK (Country of Law) faction rated the 2011 draft budget as satisfactory and voted for it.
The discussion on the budget ended with a speech by NA Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan. Abrahamyan said he is mainly concerned about the size of shady economy and said the pensions and salaries must be increased at the price of that.
"I think the RA State Income Committee must be more responsible," said Hovik Abrahamyan.
Hovik Abrahamyan said the difference between this state budget and the previous ones is that the 2011 state budget precedes the crisis and presupposes higher incomes.
"I attach importance to the 2011 state budget and call on everyone to vote for it," said NA Chairman Hovik Abrahamyan.
In his speech, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan agreed that not all issues have been solved yet.
"Today the government will present a package of proposals for improving the business environment," said the Prime Minister. He also agreed that there are risks in the budget draft which will be in the center of the government's attention. Tigran Sargsyan assured the MPs that the government is ready to discuss their proposals and is ready to cooperate with the opposition.
