NATIONAL ASSEMBLY DEPUTY PROPOSES INCREASING STATE SOCIAL PAYMENTS BY 20%
Noyan Tapan
M arch 17, 2009
YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Independent deputy of the National
Assembly Victor Dallakian proposed increasing pensions, benefits and
other social payments by 20%. He said at the parliament on March 17
that on March 11 he put into circulation a bill on making an amendment
to the Law on Indexation of State Expenditures in Social Protection
Sector, and the bill envisages the above mentioned changes.
According to V. Dallakian, a 20% rise in prices of living essentials
was recorded in Armenia recently as a result of the financial and
economic crisis, the change in the dram-dollar exchange rate, and the
expected growth of gas, power and water tariffs. The rise in prices
of living essentails has resulted in a decline of the population’s
purchasing capacity and considerable deterioration of its social
condition. The inflation has had an especially negative impact on
the vulnerable section, which, according to the deputy, makes about
a million people.
He expressed an opinion that the financial resources necessary for
this legislative initiative can be obtained by making big business pay
the full amount of taxes, "the necessity of which has been repeatedly
noted by the prime minister", as well as by reducing the inflated
expenditures of the Central Bank of Armenia and the state machinery.