Negative Conclusion Given to Pension Increase Initiative: What is the Justification?

The government issued a negative conclusion during its meeting today, November 25, regarding the legislative initiative presented by MP Aghvan Vardanyan from the "Armenia" faction. This initiative included a package of bills aimed at amending the "Law on State Pensions" and the "Law on State Benefits."

According to the draft, the MP proposed to stipulate that the amount of the average employment pension cannot be less than 70% of the consumer basket value as of January 1, 2022, 80% as of January 1, 2023, 85% as of January 1, 2024, 90% as of January 1, 2025, and from January 1, 2026, it should correspond to the entire value of the consumer basket.

“The issue of increasing the amounts of pensions and benefits should be considered in the context of ensuring the necessary financial resources. Otherwise, if the amounts of pension and benefit increases are enshrined by law according to the years, it may create a situation where the legal requirements cannot be fulfilled due to the state’s limited socio-economic capabilities,” states the executive's negative conclusion, recommending to leave the current articles of the amended laws unchanged.