Pashinyan describes Armenia’s state budget as unified financial pool

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has compared the state budget to a barrel being filled with water from buckets of different colours, as he addressed parliament during discussions on the draft 2026 budget.

Speaking during a parliamentary session, Pashinyan said the budget should be viewed as a single, unified entity, regardless of the different sources of its funding, Caliber.Az reports via Armenian media.

“The state budget is a barrel into which we pour water — once with a green bucket, another time with a red one, then with a yellow one, and then with a brown one. Later, we open the tap at the bottom, and that water flows out,” he said.

According to Armenian media, Pashinyan explained that once funds enter the budget, it becomes impossible to distinguish their original source, as they form part of an overall financial pool.

“When that water flows, you cannot say whether the water in the glass came from the yellow, green or red bucket, because the state budget is one common concept,” he added.

The prime minister noted that targeted loan programmes are an exception, as those funds can only be spent on specific purposes. However, he suggested that such designated financing can indirectly free up other resources in the overall budget for different uses.

“What is unclear here?” he told lawmakers, defending the government’s fiscal approach.

By Aghakazim Guliyev