Not All Parents Spend Money Purposely for Their Children's Needs: Arman Yeghoyan

During the National Assembly session on December 16, the deputy from the 'Civil Contract' faction, Arman Yeghoyan, addressed the opposition's criticism regarding the financial support associated with childbirth being made uniform. He mentioned that allocating 500,000 drams for each newborn family is anti-social and does not contribute to increasing birth rates.

Yeghoyan expressed his confusion over the opposition's complaints about this change. 'Currently, the first and second children receive a one-time benefit of 300,000 drams. After this change, the first and second children will receive a one-time benefit of 500,000 drams (due to childbirth - ed.). Yes, for the third child, the one-time benefit decreases from 1 million to 500,000 drams, but the Government commits to providing a monthly benefit of 50,000 drams for 6 years, meaning more than... in fact, the program becomes permanent,' the deputy stated. He then clarified, 'In addition to that, over 6 years, a total of 3.6 million drams will be received. This means significantly more than the reduced amounts proposed by the opposition.'

According to Arman Yeghoyan, this is being done so that the funds allocated for the child are spent in a balanced way. 'We must not deny, right? Not all parents take that money and immediately spend it purposefully for the child's needs, especially when you're talking about 1 million drams. Now these 50,000 drams will allow individuals to spend that money proportionately on the child's needs, rather than on their own or unrelated expenses,' he said.

It is worth noting that the parliament is discussing a bill that proposes to make assistance for the third and each subsequent child a state benefit. Another proposal suggests that since the support program for families with a third child and onward becomes a state benefit, the amounts of the one-time childbirth benefit should also be made uniform, setting it at 500,000 drams for everyone.