Honorable President of the National Assembly,
Honorable Deputies of the National Assembly,
Honorable Cabinet members,
Dear people,

We discussed the draft state budget for 2026. Of course, the Minister of Finance and the MPs have touched upon many issues during these two-stage discussions, but it also goes like a red thread that this is, in fact, the last discussion of the draft budget in this National Assembly, because the next budget discussion will take place in the National Assembly of the next convocation. And I think, and I consider it necessary to give a few assessments of the budget discussions that are taking place or have already taken place at this moment.

To sum up, I want to say that I generally evaluate our work with the National Assembly of this convocation as positive and I am satisfied with the work of the Government, of course, I do not evaluate it as excellent, but I evaluate it as good. Now I want to say why I evaluate it as good. Of course, it is December, the budget year has not yet ended, but we have confident forecasts regarding the implementation of tax revenues for the 2025 budget. I must say that we are confident that the tax revenues of the 2025 state budget will exceed the tax revenues of the 2017 state budget by 1 trillion 542 billion drams, or 133%.

I want to draw your attention to this nuance: the additional increased part of our budget this year compared to 2017 is more than the total budget of 2017. In other words, our increased part is more than the budget of 2017. Why am I comparing it with 2017, because in the second half of 2018, the budget logic changed, although our budget revenues also increased compared to 2018.

During the 2021 parliamentary elections, we promised that we would ensure an average annual economic growth of 7%. This promise has been fully fulfilled, because we are confident that as a result of five years, we will ensure at least 7.5, 7.6% economic growth, and realistically higher growth will be ensured on average annually. In 2021-2024, the gross domestic product of the Republic of Armenia already grew by 36.6%. This is a very good indicator.

Now, this issue is constantly being discussed, they say, very good, you talk about budget growth, economic growth, etc., salary growth, job growth, well, how has this affected people's lives? You also remember that during the committee discussions, I addressed this issue, and I want to answer this question based on expert conclusions. Our economist colleagues have suggested to me that the answer to this question can be given by the so-called Gini coefficient, which shows how evenly the income generated in the country is distributed among the population. And according to the latest indicators, the Republic of Armenia has made significant improvements in this regard, and compared to the previous period, we have quite good growth, which means that the distribution of the money and outcome generated in the country is quite equal and fair and is further improving.

By the way, today, when I was preparing for this speech, I again referred to the Gini coefficient, and the following caught my eye: I wanted to understand whether this indicator is historically the best in the history of Armenia or not. And do you know what it turned out to be? It turned out that the historically best indicator for Armenia of the Gini coefficient is 2020. What does this say about? This speaks to the fact that all the big and directed criticisms of the management of the COVID crisis are simply fabricated. We won the elections in 2018 under the slogan “Caring Society”, and the Gini coefficient in 2020 shows that our Government was guided by that very strategy. And in 2020, the country's outcome was distributed as evenly as possible, which means that during the crisis we provided more targeted support to our citizens.

Now I want to touch on other indicators. The number of jobs: in October this year, we again had an absolute record of registered and paid jobs. In October 2025, we had 810,074 registered jobs in the country. The increase compared to 2018 is 223,895 or 38%.

Dear colleagues, this records that since 2018, we have created 223,895 jobs in the Republic of Armenia. Such an indicator has never been seen in the history of Armenia for such a period. Moreover, this growth is continuous, compared to October 2024, 31,000 jobs were created, 4% more. The average salary in October is 313,000 drams, an increase compared to 2018 of 135,657 drams or 76%.

We talk a lot about inflation. There was no 76% inflation in Armenia, and in general, in real terms, our salary increases are double-digit, 20% or more, which shows the level of well-being of citizens. The income tax paid in October was 50 billion 699 million, which is almost twice as much as in October 2018, by 95%, by 24 billion drams. Now, what does all this, these numbers have to do with the well-being of citizens? They have to do with the well-being of citizens insofar as we returned 384 billion drams in income tax to the citizens of the Republic of Armenia from 2018 to 2025, pay attention, we gave the money directly to the citizens. Moreover, there was a 9500% increase compared to the income tax refund of the previous period of the program.

I also compared the years 2010–2017 and 2018–2025. Real estate transactions, where people bought houses, increased by more than 67,000, by 64%. The primary market in the regions grew by 1,104% compared to the previous period. I want to show the proportional development of the territories. In general, the growth of the primary market in 2018–2025 compared to 2010–2017 was 465%.

All this shows that Armenia is on the development trajectory. Is there a social and poverty problem in Armenia? Yes, there is a social and poverty problem in Armenia. Recently, poverty indicators were published, in our assessment, they are quite good indicators, but methodological issues still need to be clarified. But one thing is clear there, that extreme poverty is 0.6%, regardless of the methodology, which means that we are, in fact, very close to the implementation of our pre-election promise to eliminate extreme poverty, which we made in 2021. Moreover, that poverty indicator refers to the previous period before the elections, in 2024. The indicators of this one and a half years and our economic growth cannot help but further reduce that indicator.

Now, dear colleagues, is there a poverty problem in Armenia? Yes, there is a poverty problem in Armenia, but it is time, finally, for us to face and indicate the causes of poverty. The reason for poverty in the Republic of Armenia is no longer that there are no jobs, that problem has been eliminated long ago. Otherwise, it would not be possible for thousands, let alone tens of thousands of people to come from other countries to work in Armenia and support their families in other countries. And why is there poverty in Armenia? There is poverty in Armenia only because of the following: the lack of skills not to be poor. I have studied this issue a lot, and this is a very important, very responsible and very sharp statement. And I say, yes, there is poverty in Armenia only because of the lack or scarcity of skills among people who are poor, who are in poverty not to be poor. We have adopted this strategy since 2018, that the way to overcome poverty is work. But we have to face the fact that there are jobs, there are people who work, but continue to remain poor, why, for the same reason, because they work in that place because they do not have sufficient professional skills.

And our policy is the following: if work does not ensure a person's well-being, what should be done - we should return to education, to the development of work skills. If after that, work again does not ensure his well-being, what should be done - we should return to education and the development of work skills. And this should be our policy in the field of work.

There is a lot of talk about pensions and pensioners. Dear colleagues, from January 1, 2025, pensioners and recipients of benefits, disability allowances, in short, pensions are increasing. Simply, do you understand, there is management and management has nuances, and we are also learning to manage more effectively. What are we saying? We are saying, okay, let's increase the pension by 10,400 drams per month, what will the pensioner do, what will he do with that money, what will he spend it on? Our research shows, in this case we are talking about pensioners aged 65 and over, that people's primary expense is healthcare. Now, therefore, why should we give people that money given that that they don't know how to use it effectively on their health care - go to the pharmacy to buy something other than what they should buy, go to get the medical service they did not need. We put that 10,000 drams into health insurance, we create a system where they will most likely receive not 10,000, but maybe 20, maybe 30, maybe 40, maybe 50 thousand, maybe 100 thousand, maybe 500 thousand drams worth of services.

And we are now moving towards this solution, the pension of pensioners is also increasing at the expense of non-cash transactions, a certain percentage is also increasing there. In the case of non-cash transactions, universally, with Arka cards, we give 2% cashback to all citizens, and this additional 2% is added to pensioners. Again, if we are going to compare, we must also take this into account.

Dear colleagues,

Compared to 2018, the number of pensioners in the Republic of Armenia has increased by 106,697 people, by 19%. Moreover, why am I also satisfied with our work? Because in January 2018, the number of pensioners in the Republic of Armenia was more than the number of employed persons, there were 555,000 pensioners, 513,000 employees. Today, this gap or this ratio does not satisfy us so much. When the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs was appointed - of course, I had set this task before the previous minister - I set a task that for us, it should also be one of the foundations of our new economic policy, the economic activation of pensioners should be one of the priority programs.

Now I want to say that I have been immersed in recent months, including studying the history of the origin of very successful international business brands. We now perceive that 63 is the retirement age, don't we? Yes, 63 is the retirement age, but I suggest we do another exercise, and maybe 63 is the best age to start a small and medium-sized business, because who has more knowledge of life and work than a 63-year-old? And I have already given an instruction that we have programs to support and provide economic support to retirees aged 63 and over, because, dear colleagues, in the 21st century, what age is 63? Who can say what age is 65, what age is 70, what age is 75?

In other words, we need to get out of that mindset that a pensioner is finished, no, life does not end at the age of 63, life begins at the age of 63, and we need to adopt a strategy to change the lives of our pensioners or our older generation, including the Cadastre Committee's very important initiative - the reverse mortgage program, which is a very important thing. We are not saying, dear colleagues, let's face it, we do not talk about such things, we have established a national tradition and have remained under that title. For a 63-year-old person, we need to create a fully independent life, the opportunity to live a fully independent life, because when a person becomes economically inactive and stays at home, it is a problem for him, but it is also a problem for the rest of his family. In other words, what is our assumption? Should a person sit at home from 63 to 80 years old? No, a person has worked, has accumulated so much knowledge, we must create conditions so that that knowledge itself, there is such a saying, "if youth knew if age could", now old age can, because it is no longer old age.

Once, 63 years old was considered old, 65 years old was considered old, 70 years old was considered old, 70 year-old person is not old if he is healthy, and excuse me, if a person is not healthy, 29 years old is also old. If a person is not healthy, what difference does it make, whether he is 29 years old, 39, 35, 42, 50, or 55, what difference does it make, not to mention that in the modern world, technology has developed so much, there is no absolutely healthy person, you go under the scanner, something will be found, we have to tell the person no, no, dear people, it is not over, no, 63 years old is the best age to start a small and medium business, because no one has the knowledge that has been accumulated.

Now, that topic of state debt again. Our esteemed opposition colleagues never understood, I apologize, they never understood correctly that the state budget is a barrel into which we pour water, we pour it with a green bucket, a red bucket, a yellow bucket, a brown bucket, then we open the tap from the bottom, that water comes out, when that water comes, we cannot say the water that filled this glass was from the yellow, green or red bucket, because the state budget is a general concept, that is, the money you spend, of course there are also targeted things, credit programs that you spend only for a specific purpose, but, in general, the state budget, or that you direct for a specific purpose, that is your purpose, not someone else's purpose. That means, when you directed a credit program for that specific purpose, other water appeared in that barrel, which you can use for another purpose, because that water was originally intended for whatever purpose, for which you brought water from somewhere else and watered with that water.

What is incomprehensible, now this story of the state debt. Moreover, yes, we did not want to talk about that topic, because we did not want to, why do we want to talk now? Because now peace has been established, and we can talk. The entire increase in the state debt, or did they not see it in the budget? From 2018 to 2025 inclusive, there is a capital expenditure of 4.4 billion dollars only in the defense sector, well, did they not see that number at some point, how could they not see it?

Next, this is one direction, the next direction: the debt increased to some extent, which is related to the expenses of Karabakh refugees and unforeseen functions related to Karabakh, there is no other story under this and it simply does not exist. Yes, of course, there were loan agreements in the past, etc., that is, it is something natural, something that should be planned.

But in general, assessing the work of the previous period of the Government, I want to say, dear colleagues, that when I say Government, I mean, of course, including the political majority, the parliamentary majority, because it is clear that without parliamentary support the Government cannot work. I want to say that I appreciate our work well, but the most important thing is not the economic indicators, the most important thing is that we have brought Armenia out of the trap, we have brought Armenia out of the geopolitical trap. All these economic indicators are, of course, important, but they are not the most important thing, the most important thing is that we have brought Armenia out of the trap, we have brought Armenia out of dead end. We have brought Armenia to a place where prospects have opened up for Armenia in all directions, and Armenia, the people of Armenia, can decide by their sovereign will the direction, what vision of development they adopt.

Now the last important event has also happened, the opposition has found a new topic: publish the negotiation package. The negotiation package has been published. Now again the same narratives, which are long outdated. I will tell you a formula, what will be the answer to all the questions raised by the opposition, when they talk about the negotiation process, when they say this is how it should have been. Dear friends, let's ask them how many years have they been in power, 30 or more years, I have said it 100 times, if there were such chances, why didn't you solve it? Let's address this issue, that is, there was a solution, as they say, there was a chance for a pro-Armenian solution, but you didn't do it, then why do you call us traitors? Then you are, there is no greater traitor than you.

As for the 2019 OSCE Minsk Group proposal, dear colleagues, I have said directly, indirectly, several times, and now it is published: I have never been the President of the Republic of Armenia, that document begins with, "We, the Presidents of Armenia and Azerbaijan." In other words, yesterday during a discussion I noted that I did not address this nuance, because I have addressed so many things, it seemed to me that I had addressed everything. How did that document of2019 appear? That 2019 document appeared with the following logic: when I became Prime Minister in 2018, I set a task, I said, I told the co-chairs, there are a lot of papers here, I don't understand now which of these papers is the starting point at this moment, the summary of the previous round of the negotiation process, what is the brief of the previous round of the negotiation process? That June 2019 paper is it, when I asked to tell me what is the brief of the previous round, the co-chairs gave it as the negotiation brief of the previous round, and it is in that context that I asked a question, I said, okay, I'm reading, now I'm interested in your comment, now with these packages, can Karabakh not be part of Azerbaijan, with any of these mechanisms, and a very clear answer was given: yes, if Azerbaijan agrees.

What is this, yes, it is also written, of course, it is written, but I was a new person, I thought I might not be interpreting what was written correctly, not to mention the last or first document of that package is Serzh Sargsyan's speech from this podium in April 2018. That story is over, there is no misinterpretation of the negotiation process at all, there is none. The average statistical citizen of the Republic of Armenia will read that package from cover to cover, and no questions will arise for him. Now they say why the Key West package has not been published, because there is no Key West package at the disposal of the Government of Armenia. The basis of the Key West package is what is printed in the package, which Levon Ter-Petrosyan's headquarters, Levon Ter-Petrosyan gave to the "Haykakan Zhamanak" newspaper and it was published. That is the ideological basis of Key West. Recently Radio Liberty made a reportage with very detailed documents and that says it all, that is, there is nothing to think about there at all.

Now I won't even invite them to a debate, because even if I invite them, there's nothing to talk about, there's nothing to debate, let them read and tell, read and tell, read and tell, what should they tell, there's nothing to tell.

Dear colleagues, in conclusion, I would also like to say that 2026 will be a very eventful year for Armenia, the European Political Community Summit will be held in Armenia, as well as the COP17 biodiversity summit in the fall, and the next parliamentary elections. And I would like to state once again that I and the ruling majority are approaching the next parliamentary elections with a huge reserve of optimism and positivity, and I must state once again that yes, peace has been established between the Republic of Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, our task is to nurture, strengthen, and institutionalize peace.

And again, I would like to state one more thing: analyzing the recent work, it is very important to state the following, if I may put it very conditionally, when trust between Armenia and Azerbaijan increases by one millimeter, it brings 10 centimeters of practical progress. This is a simple, conditional formula, but I want to share my impressions in that regard as well. And I want to say that today I am much more optimistic about the prospects for peace than, say, on August 15-20, 2025, although at that moment I was more optimistic than I had ever been before.

And therefore, our task, including for 2026, I have to agree with the Minister of Finance, who said that we have entered the orbit of normal economic development, our economy will develop, the issue is, at a higher or lower pace, by the way, in the previous period we also started asking ourselves this question: is it good that, as economists say, we are growing at a pace greater than our potential. Problems arise here too, because inflationary phenomena are coming, etc., etc. and so on. Therefore, it may be so, this is still a question, we need to discuss if we should adopt 6-7% economic growth as a goal, because it may turn out that 10-12% economic growth causes inflationary and other problems, risks.

But the main issue for 2026 is the following: the people of the Republic of Armenia must stand up for peace in the elections, and let me say, I have no doubt for a second that the people of the Republic of Armenia will stand up for peace, because it is not someone else's peace, it is their peace, the peace of their children, their family, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren, and that is the greatest tribute to all the martyrs, regardless of what period in our history that martyrdom and sacrifice took place, and therefore, glory to the martyrs and long live the Republic of Armenia.

Thank you.