A regular Cabinet meeting took place today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Government has approved the annual report on the implementation of the state budget 2022 of the Republic of Armenia, which will be presented to the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia in the prescribed manner. The annual report was presented by Minister of Finance Vahe Hovhannisyan, who noted that the public debt/GDP ratio decreased significantly, to 46.7%, instead of the predicted 60.2%, due to the reduction of the state budget deficit, high economic growth and currency appreciation, decreasing by 13.6 percentage points compared to the previous year. As of December 31, 2022, the debt of the Government of Armenia amounted to 3,969.7 billion AMD (10,086.4 million USD). Moreover, the external debt of the government decreased both in AMD and USD terms.

Referring to the public debt, Nikol Pashinyan specifically noted that Armenia is again considered a country with a light debt burden of 46 percent. "The issue is not in the debt, but how we use the debt to increase our economic growth potential because, very importantly, we use our debt to make capital investments, the purpose of which is to generate new funds."

The Prime Minister also referred to the 2023 budget and presented several indicators, in particular, as of yesterday, 295 billion AMD tax revenue had already been collected.

The Government adopted a decision, which envisages allocating capital grants in the amount of 264,361.6 thousand AMD to 128 public schools operating under the Shirak regional administration. The money will go towards the purchase of necessary property and equipment for school canteens. According to the substantiation, Shirak Province switched to the "Sustainable school meals" program in September 2018. Nikol Pashinyan highlighted the importance of the program in the context of both education and children's health care. "We have serious problems here and we must do everything to solve these problems as soon as possible."

The Government approved the bills on amendments to the “Law on Police" and on amendments to the “Law on State Regulation of Technical Security" conditioned by the introduction of the water division of the Police Patrol Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Armenia. As noted by the Minister of Internal Affairs Vahe Ghazaryan, the purpose of the bills is to establish necessary precedents for the introduction of the water department. It will also contribute to the solution of the issue of having a safe and secure Lake Sevan. "The water patrols will naturally record other administrative offenses and crimes within the framework of the tasks set before the Police. It especially refers to cases of illegal fishing in the basin of Lake Sevan." Vahe Ghazaryan also added that the Water Division of the Patrol Service will operate as a company with an initial personnel of 95, including technical personnel. It was also noted that the processes of checking the swimming and diving abilities of the applicants for the water patrol service have already started. An internship in the area of Lake Sevan is also planned.

At today's Cabinet meeting, the Prime Minister referred to the Yerevan-Kapan-Yerevan test flight. The Prime Minister inquired from the Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan about the results of the test flight from Yerevan to Kapan. The Minister assessed the flight as positive, noting that there is a goal to have regular transportation from Yerevan to Kapan.