Badasian told reporters that his agency collected a total of 2.22 trillion drams ($5.5 billion) in various taxes and duties. He said this was first and foremost the result of its continued crackdown on tax evasion.
The SRC was also helped by the overall macroeconomic situation in Armenia. The country’s Gross Domestic Product was on course to grow by 7-8 percent last year.
The Armenian economy expanded even faster, by 12 percent, in 2022 mainly because of a surge in cash inflows from Russia resulting from Western sanctions against Moscow. The government’s tax revenue jumped by 21 percent at the time.
The 2024 state budget approved by the Armenian parliament last month commits the SRC to collecting 2.61 trillion drams in taxes. The figure would be equivalent to almost 25 percent of GDP, Finance Minister Vahe Hovannisian told lawmakers.
It will not be enough to fully cover a 23 percent surge in government spending this year projected at 3.2 trillion drams ($7.9 billion). The budget deficit should therefore widen to 4.6 percent of GDP this year, according to government projections.
The International Monetary Fund praised the Armenian authorities for planning to further improve tax collection when it approved a “precautionary” loan worth $170 million to them in December 2022.