Babken Tunyan, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economic Affairs of the Armenian National Assembly, today promised that no one in Armenia would go hungry due to the economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus crisis.

Taking the podium at the parliament today during a session to discuss a government bill to modify the 2020 budget, Tunyan said that the government would introduce new programs to mitigate the economic impact of the crisis. 

 "We have a crisis, and in that situation, of course, businesses do not work, incomes decrease, and few taxes are collected. On the other hand, the state has expenses that must be covered: salaries, pensions, capital construction, military spending.   We keep spending at the same level, not reducing expenditures. But we are collecting less taxes and there is a gap, a deficit, that was supposed to be 160 billion drams. We are now increasing the deficit. We are taking a classic economic step in the crisis. We are spending more money than we collect. This is what today's bill is about,” Tunyan said.

Tunyan refuted MP Edmon Marukyan’s claim that the government has surplus savings of 300 billion drams to use to assist people impacted by the crisis.

"There is no 300 billion in available money in Armenia. If we are talking about a joint treasury account, the balance there is several times less and it has a clear program goal. It is not free money to spend as we want. It’s not as if the money is sitting in a trunk somewhere or in some account,” Tunyan said.