Parliamentary Committee Approves Project to Make January 2-5 and 7 Work Days

The Permanent Committee on State-Legal Affairs of the National Assembly, chaired by Vladimir Vardanyan, discussed the draft law on amendments to the "Law on Holidays and Commemoration Days of the Republic of Armenia" during its session on October 21. This was reported by the National Assembly website.

Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan noted that the adoption of the initiative is aimed at establishing January 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 as workdays. Currently, the number of paid non-working days granted to citizens of Armenia exceeds that of many developed and even more developing countries.

Holidays and non-working days impact the gross domestic product (GDP) and the output of the main sectors of the economy (services), as well as the volumes of exports and imports, and contractual relations with both local and foreign partner organizations.

The Ministry of Economy has attempted to assess the impact of establishing these five holidays as workdays on the economy and specific sectors. The evaluation results indicate that the GDP will increase by 123 billion drams, with commercial output rising by 47.5 billion drams, industrial output by 35.4 billion drams, and the volume of service output by 33.9 billion drams. The outputs in agriculture and construction will see increases of 3.5 billion and 2.9 billion drams, respectively.

During a question-and-answer session, lawmakers sought to ascertain the justification for reducing non-working days. It was suggested that during the transition period, this should only apply to public servants. There was also a proposal to include January 2 and 7 in the list of non-working days. It was pointed out that citizens should be prepared for these changes, and transitional provisions should regulate the issue at this stage.

Committee Chair Vladimir Vardanyan emphasized the importance of adopting the draft from the perspective of recording economic growth. He noted that even with changes to workdays, issues arise in collaboration with foreign partner organizations.

Vardanyan cited examples from international practice and urged colleagues to vote in favor of the proposal, stating he would present suggestions during the second reading. The proposal was accepted by the committee with a vote of 5 in favor and 4 abstentions.