ArmInfo. In Armenia, the minimum state pension rate will be increased for 18 thousand pensioners. At the March 28 sitting, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia in the second and final reading amended the Law on the State Pension.
According to Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Smbat Saiyan, by the second reading of the new proposals from the deputies and the government did not arrive. The Government of Armenia proposes to introduce a new instrument in the state pension system - the size of the minimum pension, the right to determine which is granted to the Cabinet of Ministers. "This tool will make it possible to make a more targeted policy of the state with regard to pensioners who receive a low pension," Smbat Saiyan said. It is proposed, in particular, from January 1, 2019 to raise the minimum state pension rate from 16 thousand to 25.5 thousand drams. About 800 million drams will be allocated from the state budget to solve the task. The program of medium-term expenditures of Armenia provides for relevant funds for 2019-2021. At the same time, the bill will have retroactive effect, and after its entry into force, recalculation will be made for previous months. Thus, according to the deputy minister, an attempt will be made to overcome extreme (food) poverty among some pensioners.
To note, according to the data of December 2017, in 2016, the threshold of food poverty in Armenia was 23,313 drams. As expected, in 2019, taking into account the 3% y-o-y inflation, the figure will reach 25,500 drams. According to the document, as of June 1, 2019, the number of retirees will be 497,394, of which 463,069 people will receive a retirement pension, 32,420 retirement recipients in the line of law enforcement agencies and 1,905 military retirees. As of November 2017, according to the data of the Social Security Service of the Ministry of Social Affairs of Armenia, 524 thousand 485 pensioners are registered in the Republic of Armenia, of which 460 thousand receive a retirement pension (basic pension is 16 thousand drams, plus allowances for seniority - 800 drams for the first 10 years and 500 for the next) and 64 thousand - insurance old-age pension of 16 thousand drams.