Edmon Marukyan says he did not receive offer of cooperation (video)
During the parliamentary debates on the revised FY 2017 draft budget, lawmaker Edmon Marukyan said his proposals on the draft had been turned down for the first time. “Perhaps you found it impolite to say that you are rejecting the proposals, therefore, you just said you will discuss them later. In the past, I received a telephone call from government representatives who asked for an outlay. Now they do not seem to be interested in cooperation. Perhaps they intended to reject my proposals therefore they did not show interest in cooperation,” Mr. Marukyan said in his speech. Minister of Finance Vardan Aramyan said they tried to contact as many lawmakers as their time allowed. “You are right we need to increase allocations to the defense sector, one of the most important spheres in a country which is at war. You offered to increase the sum by 23 billion. Had we done it, we would have imposed an unnecessary burden on businesses. This, in turn, would hit the economic potential whereas our ultimate goal is to provide economic growth. Therefore, we have decided to keep military expenditures unaltered.”
