ArmInfo.Head of the Armenian Cabinet of Ministers and the Ministry of Social Labor proudly declare that after the July increase, the minimum pension of 36,000 drams will amount to 99.5% of the minimum food basket, but this is by no means the case. Movses Aristakesyan, the Chairman of the "Center for Economic Rights" NGO ", an international financial expert in public finance management, wrote on his Facebook page.
Today at a meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, referring to the increase in the minimum pension from 31.6 to 36 thousand drams, said that for the first time in Armenia, the minimum pension approached the minimum food basket determined by the Statistical Committee of Armenia according to the methodology of the World Bank. At the same time, according to the Statistical Committee for January-March 2023, the minimum food basket on a monthly terms amounted to 43,627.2 drams, and the minimum consumer basket - 80,710.3 drams.
"No matter how the state statistics authorities try to create an evidence base for the Prime Minister's campaign, nothing works. According to the official data of the Statistical Committee, in Q2 2022, the cost of the minimum food basket amounted to 44,431.3 drams. In the context of a noticeable continuous increase in consumer prices, especially for food products, the cost of the minimum food basket was artificially lowered and in Q3 2022 it was calculated at the level of 41,329.3 drams, and in Q1 2023- 40,299.5 drams>, Aristakesyan noted.
Moreover, according to the expert, an increase in the minimum pension cannot have a positive impact on the average pension paid in terms of matching the growth in consumer prices. Thus, during 2018-2022, according to official statistics, consumer prices increased by 22.5%, while the average pension paid increased by 14.8% alone, and compared to 40,478 drams in 2018, it amounted to only 46,629 drams in 2022, which barely covers the cost of the minimum food basket of 44,431 drams.
In this case, according to the economist, the increase in the basic pension by 3,000 drams from July 1 is also ineffective until the cost of seniority, which has been unchanged for more than 15 years, is increased by 500 drams, meanwhile, the consumer price index for that the same period increased more than 1.5-fold.
