ArmInfo.Ex-Minister of Finance of Armenia Vardan Aramyan believes that if the current trends are preserved, the budgeted GDP growth rate of 4.5% is reachable for the country. Nevertheless, as Vardan Aramyan told journalists, at this stage it is premature to talk about raising pensions and salaries. "If there is no certainty about the expected income, it is very risky to raise pensions," he said.
According to Aramyan, it is not a secret for anyone that the minimum wage and pensions in Armenia should be increased. But for today, as before, Aramyan adheres to the following position: before taking on new obligations on pensions and minimum wages, it is necessary to clarify the expectations for internal revenues from own resources. "If such incomes are not seen in the foreseeable future, in this case it is extremely risky to incur premature and unreasonable expenses for raising wages and pensions," he said.
At the same time, as Aramyan stressed, it is necessary to remember that the increase cannot be temporary. "The government can not raise pensions and minimum wage for one year, in this context, if there is no confidence in new, additional and long-term revenues of the state budget, it is very risky to raise current expenses," Aramyan said.
To recall, the ex-government of Armenia has repeatedly stated that in the present conditions, the increase of pensions and minimum wages means a risk of increasing the country's debt burden. Meanwhile, pensions and wages in Armenia have not increased since 2015. As stated on February 12 this year. the former deputy finance minister, and now the head of the Ministry of Finance Atom Janjugazyan, would be adventurous to raise pensions without having a solid economic basis and reliable sources of financing. He noted that "I would not like to return to the experience of those years when on paper the figures were raised, but the authorities did not have the resources for appropriate payments." Already in the wake of a nationwide protest, on April 20, former Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan informed not only about the government's plans to reduce the income tax, but also to raise pensions and a minimum wage. Nikol Pashinyan, the incumbent head of the government, also spoke about the need to increase pensions and minimum wage.
Meanwhile, the minimum wage in Armenia is 55,000 AMD, the average pension is about 41,000 drams, with a minimum consumer basket of 61,300 drams.