Chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, the Standing Supreme Council for Mid-Term Expenditure Program (MTEG) met today in the Office of Government.

The meeting discussed Armenia’s main macroeconomic indicators and the fiscal framework that should be taken as a basis in developing the 2019-2021 Mid-Term Expenditure Program.

Before proceeding to the debate, the Premier stated in part: “I want to state the following: in fact, the formulation of a mid-term expenditure framework is quite a lengthy process. In this case, it started and is nearing completion in different political situations. Our primary task is to understand the present situation and the prospects. Secondly, we should try to convey our public, national and all-national aspirations in the mid-term expenditure framework. I hope that today’s discussion will be effective.

We face time restrictions, but we should try to work as effectively as possible in this short period of time in order to have not only a realistic, but also an optimistic mid-term expenditure program.

Optimism and realism used to be considered as antonyms in Armenia, and now the government’s main task is to get them perceived as synonyms. In this sense, the medium term expenditure program is the most important tool for solving this problem.”