Armenian government recalculates funds for housing for forcibly  displaced Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians 

ArmInfo.The Armenian government has recalculated the budgetary funds of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs allocated to address the housing needs of  forcibly displaced persons from Nagorno-Karabakh.

The rationale for the draft decision, approved at the Cabinet meeting  on October 9, emphasizes that many IDPs who received Armenian  citizenship took out mortgages to purchase housing, which the  government was obligated to repay from the state budget. However,  since September of this year, payments on principal and interest have  been virtually nonexistent. This circumstance may force the bank to  resort to extreme measures-property seizure. An additional  121,444,000 drams will be allocated to address this issue, raising  funds from a reduction in funding for the program to improve the  demographic situation, which provides assistance to families with  three or more children. The annual adjusted budget for this program  is 27,009.7 million drams, but the projected expenditure is 25,346.1  million drams. The additional funds will be used to address the  housing needs of refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh. Payments will be  made through AMIO BANK. Mortgage repayments will begin on the 20th of  each month.

The Armenian government only repays refugees' mortgages if they have  received Armenian citizenship.  Earlier, Armenian Interior Minister  Arpine Sargsyan reported that applications from Karabakh residents  are being processed expeditiously (on average, within a month, while  the overall average is 4.5 months), and no refusals have been  recorded.