Pensioners to Receive 10% Cashback on Cashless Transactions Regardless of Bank Affiliation, Says Pashinyan

Since last year, we have implemented a cashback system for pensioners engaging in cashless transactions, and since the system's introduction, pensioners have been receiving cashback on their pensions from cashless transactions. This was announced today, December 28, during a government meeting by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who added that this decision has justified itself.

According to data from November 2023, from last July, the point of introduction until now, pensioners have conducted cashless transactions worth 62 billion drams. Moreover, since the introduction of the system until now, 5.2 billion drams have been returned to pensioners. Each month we see that the volume of cashless transactions is increasing.

The essence of today’s decision is that previously 5% was paid by banks, and 5% was covered by the Government. In essence, only those pensioners whose servicing banks were part of the system benefitted from this arrangement,” the Prime Minister stated, also noting that after discussions, the decision was made that starting January 1, 10% will be paid from the state budget.

This will allow us not to direct pensioners from bank to bank, saying, for instance, if this bank does not participate, go work with another bank. Of course, it is also unclear why some banks did not join or joined late, but that is a separate topic, and we will address those issues separately. At this point, I want to note the following: Starting January 1, the entire amount will be paid by the state budget, including benefits as well, meaning all pensioners and beneficiaries will receive cashback on cashless transactions,” Pashinyan said.

The Prime Minister reminded that one of his directives was to install point-of-sale terminals in different communities across the country and noted that already 1000 point-of-sale terminals have been installed, but no transactions have been made through them. “The conclusion here could be twofold. First, the businesses themselves do not provide the opportunity for cashless trading, which is a violation of the law. The State Revenue Committee has a role here, and there are specific addresses for this. Specific administration needs to be done because pensioners are being deprived of this opportunity, which is unacceptable. The second point is that I am not confident that all pensioners and beneficiaries are aware of this system and are adequately monitoring it; otherwise, they themselves would be pressuring these businesses to ensure that you must provide this opportunity,” he said.

Another observation by the Prime Minister was that in just November of this year, there was 7 billion drams in cashless transactions, but on the other hand, out of more than 500,000 cashless pensioners, only 164,000 to 165,000 are currently participating in the process, with the majority not taking part for some reason. Therefore, the Prime Minister expressed concern that there is a public awareness issue about this decision, and he then instructed the Minister of Social Affairs to address the matter. Narek Mkrtchyan promised to focus on awareness from January, and Pashinyan instructed to start from today.