PRIME MINISTER SARKISIAN QUESTIONS OPPOSITION’S PROMISES TO RAISE WAGES AND PENSIONS THREEFOLD

ARMENPRESS
Apr 20 2007

YEREVAN, APRIL 20, ARMENPRESS: Prime minister Serzh Sarkisian
questioned yesterday promises of some opposition parties, contesting
for May 12 parliamentary elections that they would raise old-age and
retirement pensions and wages threefold beginning from next year if
the voters cast their ballots in their favor.

Sarkisian, who was attending a meeting of the board of trustees of the
Social Security Fund, asked its chairman Vazgen Khachikian whether
these promises are realistic. Khachikian said this is possible only
in case of a threefold increase of mandatory social payments or in
case of a threefold increase of employees and workers who make these
payments, which he said is simply impossible.

The prime minister agreed that some employers underreport the real
number of their staff, but said the question is how many. Khachikian
said the current number of workers making mandatory social payments is
460,000, up from 420,000 in 2004. He said it was due to the efforts
of several government agencies, which tracked and revealed thousands
of underreported workers.

Khachikian also questioned opposition’s allegations that many employers
underreport the amount of wages, saying to ensure a threefold rise
of pensions and wages, the average wage now in the country should
have been 210,000 Drams but not 70,000.

Khachikian further explained that raising the amount of mandatory
social payments is not realistic either since then the workers would
have to pay 75 percent of their wages as social payments.