Armenian Parliament passes 2007 budget

The budget, approved in a 77-3 vote with six abstentions, foresees revenues of 490.2 billion drams (US$1.11 billion; euro840 million) and put spending at 558.7 billion drams (US$1.27 billion; euro970 million) -- figures similar to this year's.

The deficit in the poor Caucasus Mountain nation's budget blueprint amounts to 2.3 percent of gross domestic product that is expected to reach 2.9 trillion drams (US$6.6 billion; euro5 billion), growth of 9 percent over 2006.

Military spending is set at just over 100 billion drams (US$228 million; euro173 million) in the ex-Soviet republic, whose dispute with neighboring Azerbaijan over the Armenian-controlled territory of Nagorno-Karabakh keeps fears of a major new armed conflict simmering 12 years after a cease-fire ended a six-year war.

Oil-rich Azerbaijan's parliament passed a 2007 budget Tuesday that foresees military and security spending of about US$1 billion (euro760 million). The Associated Press

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