ArmInfo.On September 14, the Armenian government approved the legislative initiative of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs on increasing the lump-sum allowance for the birth of the second child. According to the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mane Tandilyan, the issue should be considered in the context of solving demographic problems.
The submitted draft envisages increase of the amount of a one-time benefit for the birth of a second child from October 1, 2018. Currently, for the birth of the first and second child, parents receive a one-time benefit of 50 thousand drams for each child, for the third - 1 million drams, for every fourth and subsequent - 1.5 million drams. Now it is proposed to allocate 150 thousand drams of lump-sum allowance for the birth of a second child. To accomplish this task, 375 million drams will be allocated in October-December of this year, starting from 2019 the amount of allocations will reach 1.5 billion drams.
The allocations in the current year, the minister continued, will be carried out at the expense of the saved funds, which were budgeted, but not paid because of a decline in the birth rate. If in 2016 40 thousand children were born in Armenia, then a year later this figure decreased by three thousand. This year, as expected, the number of newborns will decrease by another one thousand. The proposed decision is aimed at solving demographic problems.
The 3-fold increase in the allowance for the second child, as noted by Tandilyan, is of strategic importance for Armenia. It is expected that at the birth of the triplets, the parents will receive benefits for the first, second and third child - 50 thousand, 150 thousand and 1 million drams. But, as the minister assured, the issue of benefits will be more detailed in the framework of the expected amendments to the law "On State Allowances".