Armenian NA discussing amendments to Law on State Pensions 

ArmInfo. The National Assembly of Armenia is currently discussing the amendments to the law "On state pensions" proposed by the opposition faction "Armenia".

The secretary of the faction "Armenia", a representative of the ARF  "Dashnaktsutyun" party Artsvik Minasyan, who presented the  amendments, noted that the bill proposes to establish the minimum  pension at a level of no less than the monthly cost of the food  basket, and the average labor pension - no less than the monthly cost  of the consumer basket, starting from January 1, 2026. It is proposed  to take into account the monthly data published by the National  Statistical Committee, calculated in average current prices for the  third quarter of each year preceding the given budget year, as a  basis.

It is also proposed to leave to the government the determination of  the composition, structure and energy value of food products included  in the food basket, and the procedure for calculating the average  labor pension.

Artsvik Minasyan noted that the goal of the project is to increase  the level of social protection of pensioners and the elderly.  Moreover, the country's Constitution states that the Republic of  Armenia is a social state, as well as the right of citizens to a  decent life. Minasyan cited calculations by the World Bank, based on  which one can conclude that the size of the minimum food basket in  Armenia is 37 thousand drams, and the consumer basket is 68 thousand  drams. Thus, the parliamentarian emphasized, the average pension  should be no less than 68 thousand drams.

In turn, the Chairperson of the NA Committee on Social Issues Eriknaz  Tigranyan emphasized that in recent years, the country's government  has increased the size of state pensions by 22%, which today already  exceeds the minimum food basket. For this reason, as Tigranyan noted,  the commission issued a negative conclusion on the submitted  document. She noted that according to the current regulations, the  pension provision of citizens should be proportionate to the revenue  side of the country's state budget. The RA government also does not  agree with the legislative initiative of the opposition. According to  the Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the RA David  Khachatryan, there is no need for the proposed amendments, since  within the framework of the RA government's program in the field of  labor and social sphere for 2021-2026, the Cabinet of Ministers has  already set itself the strategic goal of taking steps to equalize the  size of the minimum and average pensions with the values of the food  and consumer baskets by 2026.