ArmInfo.The Armenian government has allocated an additional 3 billion 219 million drams ($11.3 million) to finance a cashback program for pensioners and beneficiaries for the period from October to December 2025. The decision was made on September 25 at a regular meeting.
As Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Arsen Torosyan noted, 12 billion 432 million drams were initially planned for these purposes for 2025. This amount was later increased to 13 billion 152 million drams. Now, given the emerging trends, the total required funding for the program is estimated at 16 billion 371 million drams.
The number of beneficiaries also exceeded the initial projection - approximately 350,000 people instead of 280,000 (out of approximately 500,000 pensioners in the country). Moreover, the indicator is growing by 2- 3% monthly.
As a reminder, the cashback program for non-cash transactions for pensioners and beneficiaries paid by bank card was previously implemented jointly with commercial banks on equal terms (5% each for commercial banks and the same amount from the RA government). However, starting January 1, 2024, funding has been entirely provided by the RA government. On August 8, 2024, the RA government decided to increase the cashback from 10% to 12%, and its maximum amount from 5,000 to 6,000 drams. Payments are transferred to beneficiaries monthly, by the 25th of the month.
