10:56, 8 November 2023

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 8, ARMENPRESS. Authorities will amend the 2024 state budget draft to include the expenditures covering the pensions and benefits of the forcibly displaced persons of Nagorno-Karabakh, which will increase pension expenditures by approximately 30 billion drams, Finance Minister Vahe Hovhannisyan told lawmakers at a parliamentary committee hearing on next year’s budget.

The expenditures related to the forcibly displaced persons of NK are not included in the draft budget because the document was approved by the government in September.

“We didn’t have time to draft new projects during those days. We didn’t have a clear picture on the number of persons and the situation,” the minister said.

The bill on amending the pension law will be approved by the Cabinet on November 9 and then sent to parliament. This will enable the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs to pay pensions to pensioners forcibly displaced from NK.