We Take Out Loans to Pay Utility Bills: 'Ideal' System Employee on Unpaid Leave for 2 Months

Today, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan made random phone calls to citizens in a live broadcast, discussing how they are coping during the state of emergency and overcoming social difficulties.

One woman shared her struggles, stating, "My husband is not working, my elderly mother is sick and disabled, I'm taking care of her and I’m not working either. My husband is registered with 'Ideal', and he has been on unpaid leave for the second month now. We are taking out loans to pay loans, and to cover our utility bills; at this point, we have a loan of 5.8 million drams. The only income during these months is my mother's pension of 40,000 drams."

The husband added that his monthly income ranges from 170,000 to 200,000 drams depending on work volume, but he has been on unpaid leave for two months. "The last loan I took was for 500,000 drams, of which I used 380,000 drams to pay off previous loans. Right now, I have 5,000 drams in my pocket, and I need to apply to banks again in the next couple of days to see where I can get support." At that moment, the sound of the sick mother crying could be heard on the phone.

The woman’s brother joined the conversation, stating, "I’m 46 years old, and I can’t find any job, even as a driver. There's an age restriction, they only hire people up to 35-40 years old. I don’t want money from anyone, I don’t want to benefit from 'Pharos'; I will take care of my responsibilities, but I just need a job."

Nikol Pashinyan emphasized that the purpose of this call was to understand how to organize social support packages that would reach those in need: "The support needs to be such that people can overcome this difficult period." Despite the challenges, the man expressed that he is very pleased with the recent "revolution". Pashinyan smiled and corrected him: "It’s not a revolution, it’s a transformation."

"If someone says something bad about you, I’ll defend you with all my might because I trust and believe in you," the citizen said, to which the Prime Minister replied, "We will do everything possible to meet your expectations; I don’t know how much we will succeed. Now we need to see if our proposed packages will provide support to these families or not."