Honorable President of the National Assembly,
Honorable Vice President of the National Assembly,
Honorable Cabinet members,
Honorable Deputies,
Honorable Guests,
Dear People,

This is the 13th time I participate in the discussions of the state budget implementation report in the National Assembly. I have participated six times as an MP and this is the seventh time I am participating as the Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia. And in all of these discussions, I have emphasized to one degree or another that the state budget is not so much accounting or arithmetic as it is content. And I consider the essence of the budget, understanding this essence, to be a very important issue not only for members of the Government and deputies of the National Assembly, but also for the entire public.

The budget is also a digital text that tells about our reality, our successes and failures, our challenges and opportunities. And it is important that we can translate the budget numbers and turn them into substantive text, and that we can express substantive texts in digital form.

The state budget revenues for 2024 amounted to 2 trillion 579 billion 200 million drams. This means that we have all together given, brought, and transferred this much money to the state budget, which is the family budget of our country, with our work. This number expresses the result of our, everyone's work: the Prime Minister, the Government, the National Assembly, bodies subordinate to the Government, but also citizens, we are talking about all citizens, without exception. In 2024, some of them did not work, the other part worked. By the way, let me say that in November 2024, an absolute record of all-time of registered and paid jobs in the Republic of Armenia was set. In November 2024, 782,832 jobs were registered, which is 192,613 or 32 percent more than the indicator of November 2018. In April of this year, however, a new historical record of paid jobs has already been recorded - 783,547, which is 242,119 or 44.7 percent more than in April 2018. In other words, this is our latest fully summarized data at this time, the data for May has not yet been summarized.

That is, after the 2018 revolution, 242119 jobs have been created in Armenia, and they are provided with a salary. And I consider it important to say that I know that there is often pessimism about statistics, but these statistics are more than reliable, because these jobs can be proven with specific people, names, salaries paid and income tax paid on salaries. That is, this is a number that cannot be given any objection at all.

In April 2018, the average salary in Armenia was 173,996 drams, in April 2025 - 304,992 drams, the average salary increase was 130,000 drams or 75 percent. During the same period, aggregate inflation, cumulative inflation, was 25 percent. This is perhaps the answer to the question or can help us answer the question, because in the press, on social networks, on political platforms, this question is raised whether people live better or worse today compared to 2018. This number is the evidence that people in Armenia live better and live better taking into account inflation and live better by about 50 percent. In other words, they live better by half of what they used to live, if we describe it figuratively. This, of course, does not mean that people in Armenia are satisfied with their lives. First, what I said refers to working people, but on the other hand, we see that the number of working people visible to us has significantly increased, and secondly, why can people not be satisfied with their lives? For a very simple, understandable and legitimate reason, because people want to live better and why do they want to live better. Because they see, in today's Armenia, they see that living better is possible.

In other words, this is also a very important circumstance, because people could see that living better is not possible, according to the saying that “it will get worse a little and it will stay that way.” In fact, now this logic has undergone a certain change, people do not want it to “get worse a little and stay that way.” This arithmetic of ours shows that it has improved, but both the citizens, the Government, and the majority of the National Assembly legitimately believe that it has not improved enough for us to be satisfied with the degree of that improvement. And, therefore, our task is not only to ensure the growth of this arithmetic, but also to ensure satisfaction, which is a very large-scale problem, which I will touch on later.

But I also want to emphasize, going a little further, that the perception of that satisfaction is very directly related to our perceptions of the state budget. In other words, being satisfied with living, with life, is related to our perceptions of the state budget and the state budget itself. But before that, let me quote another number.

The total salary fund of all employees in April 2025 amounted to 238 billion 975 million drams. In April 2018, please pay attention to the numbers, it was 94 billion 206 million drams. This, I repeat, is the total registered salary of all employees, and this number increased by 144 billion drams in April 2025 compared to April 2018, or, please pay attention, by 153 percent.

In other words, the registered salary fund in the Republic of Armenia has more than doubled as of April 2025, increased two and a half times compared to April 2018. This number is difficult to even comment on, for example, I was thinking about what to comment on, what interpretation to give to this number. This difference is not at all about much or little, because this is not a case of saying, look, there was little then, there is a lot now, this is the difference between the state and the non-state. We cannot compare these numbers, say, look, how little the number was then, how much it is now, because this is not about that category and that level. This is about the state and the non-state.

Returning to the 238 billion 975 million dram salary fund, I will not deny that this includes both the salaries of people who receive a salary of three to four million or even more, and the salaries of people who receive a salary of 80,000 drams, as well as those who work half or a quarter of rate and receive, let's say, less. In other words, it is the sum of all these salaries.

And in this regard, I have to make a statement, which I do not exclude that it will become, as they say, noisy. And the statement is as follows: high salaries are mainly received by 80-90 percent of those who have received a competitive education, low salaries are received by approximately 80-90 percent of those who have not received a competitive education. Why do I say 80-90 and not 100 percent, because there is a high probability or there is a probability that 10-20 percent may receive high salaries not due to education, but due to other factors. And 10-20 percent may receive low salaries not due to non-competitive education, but due to other factors, including injustice, regulations, etc., and so on.

But I do not consider it possible in any way that this deviation will be more than 10, at most 20 percent. And therefore, I want to emphasize that those who have received a competitive education receive higher salaries in 80-90 percent cases, and those who have not received a competitive education receive lower salaries in 80-90 percent cases. Of course, this perception cannot apply to special social groups, which are in completely different conditions.

As a result of the discussions held in the government, we have decided that this is exactly the message we need to give to students in our general education schools. We need to tell them directly and unequivocally: dear children, study well so that you can live well. In this context, however, we need to expand the scope of our ideas about living well and clarify this scope. What does it mean to live well? Of course, at the individual level, each citizen, each individual decides for himself what it means to live well. Diogenes, for example, lived in a large pithos because he believed it was the perfect way to live, but these are just special cases.

I think we need to formulate what it means to live well. And since human happiness occupies a special place in our Government’s discourse, I think we also need to formulate what it means to live well. Living well means, in my opinion, being happy. And when is an individual happy? In my opinion, an individual is happy when he is free, protected, healthy, creative, has a social environment, a beloved job, with the earnings of which he has access to healthy food, healthy lifestyle, necessary living conditions, travels regularly, is loved, respected, interacts with spiritual life and/or culture.

But why am I saying all this during the discussions of the state budget implementation report? I want to say, dear colleagues, and I say it also in response to the question that has been raised for a very long time, that is, at least since 2018, what is happiness, how will the Government ensure happiness, etc. I gave these formulations to draw the following conclusion: happiness, dear colleagues, is a spending direction of the state budget and a certain logic of the spending items. The happiness of the citizens of Armenia is a certain direction and a certain logic of the spending items of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia.

Let me substantiate: I said that a person is happy when he is free. Freedom means democracy, freedom means the rule of law, freedom means the protection of rights, and all of them are expressed to one degree or another in the state budget of the Republic of Armenia. The establishment and development of democratic institutions - we have strategies for them, these strategies have action plans, these actions imply expenses. In general, we must understand that the state budget is everywhere. Any citizen, when he pulls back the curtain and looks out of the window, will see from the window an expenditure item of the state budget, expenditure of the state budget or the absence of expenditure of the state budget. There is no other, simply any other option. Any citizen, when looking out the window of their house, when walking down the street, looking straight ahead, looking right, looking left, looking back, sees an expenditure item of the state budget of the Republic of Armenia or the absence of an expenditure item, or the inadequacy of an expenditure item, or effective expenditure, or ineffective expenditure. In other words, wherever we look, we see an expression of the state budget.

Next, according to this theory, what is needed to be happy, the quote, by the way, was from the Real Armenia Ideology Project: to be protected. What does it mean to be protected? In addition to the above, it means having a trustworthy Police force, having a trustworthy judicial system, having an effective National Security Service for anti-terrorist, counter-intelligence, and constitutional order protection activities, having a capable army, having strong diplomacy and diplomatic service, having quality legislation, and this list can be continued. All of the mentioned are an expenditure item of the state budget or the absence of an expenditure item, or a sufficient amount of an expenditure item or an insufficient amount of an expenditure item, or quality budget expenditure or poor quality budget expenditure.

For being happy, a person must be healthy, it is obvious what we are talking about. And according to our logic, what we want to do now is also an expression of that, an expression of the healthcare system. For example, we are implementing a leasing program from the state budget in the healthcare system, through which both state and private healthcare organizations acquire devices and equipment. And the beneficiary of this is the person. And, of course, in our opinion, the healthcare insurance system is something that will raise our citizens to another level, bring them closer to happiness.

To be creative: what does it mean to be creative? To be creative, first of all, means to have a proper education, because without education it is very difficult to be creative. To have a social environment, what does it mean to have a social environment? It means to have, for example, parks in the settlement, where you can go and just communicate with other people, and to mention many such infrastructures. To travel, a person must travel to be happy. What is needed to travel, besides buying a ticket, it is necessary that a transport system exists, it is necessary that infrastructure exists, roads exist, road safety exists, it is necessary that air transport is developed. The development of air transport is a specific line of the state budget, and as a result of the Government's decision, Wizz Air announced the opening of flights from Armenia to 7 destinations. And they announced, I don't know the practice, the announcement indicated a base price of 29 euros for a ticket.

Dear colleagues, do you understand that in the Republic of Armenia in 2025 it will be possible to buy a plane ticket for 29 euros, 30 euros, 50 euros? Do you understand? Was it possible in Armenia in 2016... please, let's go and check the ticket prices, let's see what the situation was. We still have the air tax, but now the issue of the air tax has also been resolved in some directions, also with our regulations.

To have a beloved job: many beloved jobs are in budgetary institutions and the Government, by the way, in the high-tech sector, in other sectors, implements job opening programs, implements support programs to stimulate investors to create new jobs. Access to healthy food - food safety and the establishment of food safety standards are a specific expenditure line of the state budget.

Healthy lifestyle: healthy lifestyle is also a specific expenditure line of the state budget, starting with sports infrastructure in our schools and communities, which is created, including with state budget funds, including through subvention and non-subvention programs, but also to increase citizens' perception of a healthy lifestyle, including implementattion of popularization programs, including my drive to ride a bicycle, this is also the implementation of a certain budget program to show that it is not a shame for a 49-50-year-old man to ride a bicycle, it is not a shame, just, sorry, in my opinion, it is a shame not to ride.

To be in touch with spiritual life and culture: today there is a very active cultural life in Armenia, including through the budget programs and formulas that the Government has adopted. You know that we have already introduced new funding formulas in several cultural institutions through an experimental method, and it is obvious that these formulas are working, because we have created an interest so that our cultural institutions, engaged in their favorite work, generate more income for themselves, and the more income they generate, the more we will increase it. It is a state budget expense line when we made admission to museums free for all children under 12 years old. It is state budget money when we created a subscription program for schoolchildren, so that every schoolchild can visit at least one theater, at least one museum, at least one concert a year at the expense of the state budget, and we also included in it transportation costs for transporting children from region to region.

Interaction with spiritual life is also an expenditure line of the state budget, because today our numerous historical and cultural monuments, which are an integral part of spiritual life, belong to the state as historical and cultural monuments, that is, they are state property and are under the care of the state. And, among other things, there must be infrastructure so that people have the opportunity to communicate with these spiritual values, but the Government must also establish strict control so that, as I have already had the opportunity to say, some do not turn these historical and cultural monuments into a dump, because I say again, it offends people's spiritual feelings.

In short, of course we can continue this list, but I don't want to continue, happiness should be expressed in the state budget. I remember the budget discussions, which were very different, from the time I was a journalist, and I myself, acting as an MP, gave the budget different names and at different times there were different formulations for the budget: crisis budget, post-crisis budget, conservative budget, budget of despair, development budget.

I think that we should remove the distinctions altogether, because there should be a happiness budget in the Republic of Armenia, that is, our budgets should be directed at what the Republic of Armenia and its citizens need to be happy. And this, I think, is a very important note that we should make. But I do not want and cannot deny that for human happiness, as is also stated in the draft of the Ideology of Real Armenia, necessary living conditions are also necessary, but I also want to make a statement that individual living conditions are not sufficient for human happiness.

I also had the opportunity to say during the 2024 Government activity report, of course with a very everyday example, if a person has a comfortable, renovated apartment, it does not mean that he lives well. Imagine a well-built and renovated private house, and a person lives there with his family, is that enough for it to be considered well-off? It is absolutely not enough, because that apartment, that house, sorry, may not have a sewage system, for example, which is public infrastructure, that house may not have a water supply, which is public infrastructure, that house may not have electricity, well now they can install solar photovoltaic plants, let's skip that part, although it is also public infrastructure. If a person eats black caviar in that house every day in the morning, red caviar in the afternoon, and both red and black caviar in the evening, and to leave that house he has to wear one and a half meter rubber boots, because otherwise he will get lost in the mud, that person cannot be considered prosperous, or if a person considers himself prosperous under these conditions I mentioned, then we need to check that perception of prosperity.

Why am I saying this, what does this have to do with the discussion of the budget execution report, dear colleagues? And the connection is that a person’s individual well-being depends not so much on how much money he spends on his family, but much more on how much money the state and community budget spends on his, those same people, their family and individual well-being. And this perception is key, we must understand this, we cannot have well-being in the Republic of Armenia without understanding this. We cannot have it.

And the statement that I made for the first time in the National Assembly, perhaps a little spontaneously, the next moment I tensed up when I said that no family, absolutely no family, spends on its own life and well-being, cannot spend more than the state budget of the Republic of Armenia spends. But then, as time went on, that thought became more ingrained and it became a belief.

Finally, let us understand that there is not a single citizen in the Republic of Armenia, regardless of social and other statuses, who spends more money on the well-being and security of his or her family than the state budget of the Republic of Armenia and the state budget of Armenia and the community budget of the given community. And therefore, dear colleagues, we must understand, deeply comprehend that there is no exaggeration in what I say: the state budget of the Republic of Armenia is the collective budget of all of us, but also the family budget of each of us. There is no exaggeration in this, and the reason I say all this is that our attitude towards paying taxes must change, it must fundamentally change, because there is a tax - there is a state, there is no tax - there is no state. There is a tax - there is welfare, there is no tax - there is no welfare. There is a tax - there is happiness, there is no tax - there is no happiness. There is a tax - there is freedom, there is no tax - there is no freedom. There is a tax - there is security, there is no tax - there is no security. There is tax, there is health, there is no tax, there is no health. There is tax, there is education, there is no tax, there is no education.

And let's continue this list for hours, there is a tax - there is a road, there is no tax - there is no road, there is a tax - there is lighting, there is no tax - there is no lighting, there is a tax - there is social security, there is no tax - there is no social security, there is a tax - there is a forest, there is no tax - there is no forest, there is a tax - there is clean air, there is no tax - there is no clean air, it is endless, literally endless.

Now what is not there, is not there, why is it not there? Because there is no tax, because there is no work, because of the attitude towards paying taxes. And that is why I still can't understand, and recently, for example, the issue of whether or not property taxes should be high is being discussed a lot. I always say and I want to say it now, I have said it publicly, that all those citi dwellers or villagers, people living in the village, especially in those villages where we have built kindergartens, built streets, when they talk about the high taxes, let’s just accompany them and look, just silently look at the kindergarten that never existed. In the village of Aregnadem in Shirak province, throughout its entire history of existence, throughout its entire, you understand, thousand-year history, there has been no school. Today we are building kindergartens in villages where there has been no kindergarten during the thousand-year history of those villages.

Dear colleagues, we must finally record one thing, you know we love to talk about civilization, and that is our favorite topic. 90% of the streets in 100% of our villages have been in mud throughout their entire history, do you understand? That is, the street was in its natural state, there was simply no infrastructure in that place, it was just a place for people to walk. But on the other hand, I think that, nevertheless, we need, why am I saying all this? I am saying all this to show the connection between taxes, the budget, people, and the well-being of the individual, but I cannot deny that we need a broad and great understanding of tax policy.

And I think that in the coming period, and especially in the context of the upcoming parliamentary elections, we need to discuss this topic very seriously with our citizens. In other words, no matter how difficult it may sound, we need to form friendship with taxes. I agree that forming friendship with tax also depends on its size, its weight, circumstance, volume. And I am absolutely not of the opinion that our current tax system is perfect, I do not even hope, I cannot even set such a task that we must have a perfect tax system. The system will never be perfect, but I think that our leadership should be about the fact that we must form an understanding among citizens that tax is: a) for the security, well-being, happiness of one's family, one's child, one's home, one's property, one's country. We must understand what we need for happiness, how much do we need to pay for that happiness, and how do we distribute the collection of the funds necessary for that happiness, because I want to emphasize again and perhaps summarize with this that nothing happens in the Republic of Armenia without expenditure from the state budget, and therefore, the happening of anything, starting with people's marriage. Let's say that it is also a certain system that registers marriages, but I say again, there must be a road, right, for people to get married, there will be no other way, and there must be electricity, water supply, etc., I won't elaborate.

Therefore, we need to form, I wouldn't say consensus, I would say understanding, how, where and in what amount we should pay taxes, but in order for that understanding to be formed, we must first record what these taxes are for. I predict that after this discussion there will also be the following reaction: the salaries of state officials, bonuses, etc. I specifically asked the Ministry of Finance to provide information this morning before this discussion, and when I was talking about 238 billion in salaries, I must say that the salaries of the state administration system are less than 5% of all that, all those big bonuses of the state administration system, etc., etc. And, I say again, if, for example, all the speculations that we should not give bonuses, instead should increased pensions, for example, if in April 2025, the entire state system did not receive a salary, received zero salary, in April it would be possible to increase pensions by 1,500 drams only, can you imagine the entire state system - with the courts, the prosecutor's office, state ministries, etc., etc. But there is a nuance here, that pension, which could be increased by 1,500 drams by not paying a salary to that system, let's say a person now receives a pension of 30,000 drams, let's say in April we decided that it's over, the state system does not receive a salary and as a result the pensioner should receive a pension of 31,500 drams, the decision would have been made, but 70% of pensioners would not receive that pension physically, because it would have been declared, but the system that was supposed to bring that pension from point "a" to point "b", that system simply would not exist. It could have existed for a month, the second month would not have existed, the second month would have existed, the third month would certainly not have existed, because no one would have agreed to work without a salary, if they agreed to work without a salary, then something is wrong.

Dear colleagues,

Thank you for your attention and I wish you and us successful and productive discussions on the 2024 state budget implementation report, as a result of which, the outcome of those discussions should ultimately outline what result we want to have. We want to have better ideas about how we can have more state budget revenues and how we can make our expenditures more effective, more targeted, so that these expenditures more effectively serve the security, well-being, and happiness of the citizens of the Republic of Armenia. Thank you.