October 30, 2001 - 23:12 AMT
ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT APPROVED STATE BUDGET BILL
The Armenian Government approved the state budget bill for the year 2002 at today's meeting. The budget revenue part is planned to be 214 and expense part is planned to be 258 billion drams. The budget deficit is planned to be at the rate of 2.8%. It is expected that the inflation will not exceed 3%. 6% increase in grand domestic product is also expected. The budget bill will be passed to consideration by the Parliament no later than November 1. In the course of discussion of the budget bill it was noted that increasing the salary of budget sphere employees might be possible due to the reform of the management system. In particular, teachers' wages are expected to increase 20% in 2002.