GOVERNMENT APPROVES PENSION HIKE
By Irina Hovannisian
Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 30 2007
In a move certain to be linked with the approaching presidential
election, the Armenian government approved on Thursday a 60 percent
surge in modest pensions paid to hundreds of thousands of elderly
citizens.
A government statement said they will receive an average of about
20,000 drams ($60) per month starting from January 1.
"The decision did not come all of a sudden," Vazgen Khachikian,
director of the state pension fund, told RFE/RL. He said Prime Minister
Serzh Sarkisian’s coalition cabinet envisaged the drastic increase
in its five-year policy program approved by parliament in June.
The increase will take effect on the eve of the 2008 presidential
election in which Sarkisian will be a top contender. Pensioners make
up a considerable part of Armenia’s electorate and usually vote in
large numbers. Pension rises approved by the government until now
were far more modest.
Khachikian, who is a member of Sarkisian’s Republican Party, insisted
that the latest measure is not aimed at inducing pensioners to vote
for the Armenian premier. "There is no need to look for black cats
in a dark room, especially if they are not there," he said, adding
that the government plans to gradually raise the average pension to
at least 36,000 drams by 2012.