The Government Will Not Have Access to the Bank Accounts of the Displaced. Khachatryan

The Government of Armenia and relevant authorities do not have and will not have any access to the bank accounts of citizens forcibly displaced from Artsakh. This statement was made by Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan during a government briefing.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan announced today that in November and December, besides the funds allocated for housing and utility expenses, the state budget will provide 50,000 drams each to individuals forcibly displaced from Nagorno-Karabakh. However, exceptions will be made for those individuals and their family members who have balances exceeding a certain threshold in their bank accounts, live in state-provided shelters, or are under state care.

Khachatryan referred to discussions on how the Government of Armenia will reconcile existing data on the bank accounts of the displaced under the conditions of bank confidentiality. He stated, “There is no contradiction here, and everything will be within the framework of the law... We will plan an application procedure and will have a pre-registration system. When the government announces which individuals with bank account balances exceeding the set threshold will not be beneficiaries of assistance, those people will be informed and will simply not submit an application, knowing that they are not beneficiaries.”

He clarified that they will not provide access to data to other entities that must identify payments before execution; rather, the Central Bank of Armenia will conduct verification of applications within its authority and will provide the government with all relevant card account numbers that will be eligible for the assistance program.

Khachatryan emphasized that individuals who have found employment will also become beneficiaries of the program. He expressed hope that in two months, individuals of primary working age will be able to cover their essential expenses and will not need this assistance program starting in January.