STARTING APRIL 1, BASIC PENSION TO BE INCREASED BY 1,000 DRAMS

YEREVAN, APRIL 1, NOYAN TAPAN. At the March 31 sitting, the RA
government made a decision to increase the basic pension, which makes
3,000 darms, by 1.000 drams (2.1 USD) starting April 1. The RA
Minister of Social Insurance Aghvan Vardanian told reporters following
the sitting that the basic pension has not been increased for several
years. He indicated that at the same time the payments for each year
of the length of service have been increased several times. According
to A. Vardanian, the transfer of the function of social payments
collection from the RA Social Insurance Fund to the State Tax Service
has produced a positive result, also enabling the government to
envisage regular increases in pensions. On the first quarter of 2004,
9.5 bln drams was collected, whereas in the same period of 2005, the
collection made 12.8 bln drams. The minister said it is planned to
collect 5.3 bln drams in April and to increase the monthly collection
to 5.7 bln drams by the end of the year. A. Vardanian noted if this
trend towards the social payment collection increase continues, it is
not ruled out that in the summer, the government may consider the
issue of raising payments for each year of the length of service. The
minister said that 2 mln 200 thousand citizens or 99% have received
the social cards. Among 4.5-5 thousand citizens who have not yet
received the cards, 3 thousand belong to various sects. A. Vardanian
assured that within the next two months, the system will start
functioning efficiently, and the citizens will no longer be required
to to present unnecessary certificates.