Tuesday, 20 September 2016
2017 State Budget Bill Debate Kicks Off in Government
Chaired by Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan, the 2017 State budget bill debate kicked off today in the Office of Government.
Per-sector proposals on the draft text of the 2017 State budget bill were presented by the heads and representatives of the ministries of Economy, Culture, Diaspora, Youth and Sports Affairs, the State Revenue Committee ny the Government, the Constitutional Court, the Prosecutor’s Office, the Special Investigations Service, the Judicial Department, the Chamber of Control, the Central Election Commission, the State Commission for Protection of Economic Competition, Armenia’s Public Television and the National Radio and Television Commission.
In anticipation of the debate, Prime Minister Karen Karapetyan stressed the need for drastic revision of the tasks set before the State apparatus, namely to assess the efficiency of the work done through measurable results.
The Premier emphasized that spending on government apparatus should be reduced significantly enabling savings to provide for proper implementation of priority functions, which, however, should in no way affect performance and should not be achieved at the expense of the quality of work.
Pointing to the need for structural changes and staff optimization, Karen Karapetyan said State budget-supported programs should not be a burden for the taxpayer; they should only be fixed in the State budget, if efficacious enough to achieve the proposed objectives.
In this regard, the Prime Minister stressed the importance of implementation of functions invested n ministry-affiliated public agencies and the economic justification of the added value created for citizens and businesses.
