Armenia may increase military budget by nearly 50 percent

The Armenian government plans to increase its defense budget next year to over 501 billion drams, or about $1.2 billion, according to a draft government budget made public Thursday. If passed, it would be the first time Armenia’s military budget has ever topped $1 billion and would represent a year-on-year increase of over 47%.

The National Assembly, which must sign off on the funding, traditionally debates government budgets in November and December.

The money would be earmarked for five areas, according to the draft budget: “defense support programs, military healthcare and healthcare services, military education and training, international military cooperation, and humanitarian demining and expert services.”

At a cabinet meeting Thursday where the draft budget was first made public, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stressed that “consistent reforms of the armed forces” should remain a government priority.

In addition, Pashinyan told his cabinet that “we have cases where hundreds of millions of dollars have been paid (for arms), but supply commitments have not been met, including by allied countries. This is the painful reality.”