ArmInfo. The system of compulsory funded pension in Armenia has passed "the point of no return." The Prime Minister of the Republic of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan stated this on June 7 presenting the program of the Armenian government.
According to him, this issue should be considered in the context of national interests. The thing is, the Prime Minister continued, that according to the situation to date, 80% of the beneficiaries are already involved in this system. From July 1, 2018, the remaining 20%, that is, the beneficiaries representing the private sector, should join it. A total of 120 billion AMD have been accumulated in management companies, 70% of which are invested in the country's economy. Nevertheless, according to Nikol Pashinyan, there is a need to calculate all the risks in order to avoid irreparable consequences, taking into account both the national interests of the country and the interests of each individual citizen.
To note, two days earlier, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia, Mane Tandilyan, noted that a bill is being prepared to postpone for a year the timeframes for the introduction of the mandatory component of a funded pension for private sector employees. According to her, the document has already been put into circulation and will be submitted for approval to the government, and then to the parliament of the country. The Minister noted that discussions are under way to find solutions that will be acceptable to all. "We must give our citizens the opportunity to choose, I always stand for freedom of choice," the minister said.
To recall, the application of the mandatory component of funded pension for all Armenian citizens born after January 1, 1974, will come into force on July 1, 2018. At present, this provision applies only to civil servants. Since January 1, 2014, a multi-stage funded pension system has been introduced in Armenia, mandatory for people born after January 1, 1974 (for citizens born before January 1, 1974, there is a distribution pension system). According to the new law of the Republic of Armenia "On funded pensions", the basic minimum pension will be equal to the subsistence minimum, and the basic pension will be 150% of the subsistence minimum. The monthly mandatory payments will make 5% of the salary, 5%, but not more than 25 thousand AMD, and for entrepreneurs 300 thousand AMD, the same amount will be contributed to the savings account of the participant of the system from the state side.