Armenian media: Pashinyan generous to security forces, but does not think about pensioners

From July 1, pensions in Armenia will increase by about 3,000 drams ($8).

The minimum pension, which is 31,600 drams ($82.2) today, will become 36,000 drams ($93.7), and on average, that is, labour pension, will become 24,000 ($62.4) instead of 21,000 drams ($54.6), Caliber.Az reports, citing Armenia’s Hraparak newspaper.

“For comparison, we note that the government is incomparably generous with the investigators of the Investigative Committee [IC], who recently distinguished themselves by successfully torturing people. Added to their salaries were bonuses of 92 per cent of the rate. As a result, an investigator of the IC, who received 300,000 [$780.8], now receives 570,000 drams [$1483.5]. The government showed the same generosity towards the employees of the Anti-Corruption Committee and prosecutors. For this purpose, about 2.5 billion drams [$6.5 million] were allocated to the prosecutor's office from the state budget.

“Of course, the life of an anti-corruption fighter, an investigator, and a prosecutor will radically change for the better, but what will a pensioner gain by 3,000-4,000 drams in monthly income? Nikol Pashinyan himself considers this a great victory - he said at an event dedicated to the Day of the Prosecutor, and added that ‘a very important event is taking place in Armenia today, for the first time in the history of Armenia, the minimum pension has come close to the minimum food basket’".

Of course, at the same time, pensioners will be able to spend 100-140 drams ($0.2-0.3) more per day. For example, they might buy a slice of potato pie or a slice of cheap ice cream at a store like, say, Gnom. But globally, what will change in the life of the poorest class of Armenia, will there be a social effect from this increase of 3,000-4,000 drams, especially considering that the prices of essential items are growing day by day, and inflation will very quickly “eat up” these additional 3,000-4,000 drams.

Economist and Armenia’s former Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan calculated that the average pension in 2018-2022 over five years increased from 40,600 to 46,700 drams, which means a nominal increase of 15 per cent.

“Inflation was 24 per cent, food inflation was 29 per cent, as a result, a pensioner lived 14 per cent worse in 5 years.”

Economist Tadevos Avetisyan also criticised the government's policy and added that millions of drams are regularly paid to the police, and since January 1, the salaries of the entire state apparatus, including policemen, have increased.

Asked if the government could increase pensions by a large amount, the economist said.

“Yes, of course, because the additional revenues of the state budget have increased. They have raised 10 per cent more revenue this year, according to figures released by the government, as economic activity fueled by the Russo-Ukrainian war continues, driving additional revenue.

However, they are also well aware that the growth of all this economic activity and high-income growth is due to an external random factor, and not our economic potential. It is not stable, and they are well aware that later they will have additional difficulties not only in terms of economic activity but also in terms of ensuring state budget revenues.”

According to T. Avetisyan, this is also the reason why the government continues to increase public debt.

“They are carefully preparing for the fact that this factor will not be, knowing full well that it is a random, temporary, unstable, and purely external factor.”

How, in this case, did they sharply increase the salaries of investigators, prosecutors, fighters against corruption, and the police?

"How will they keep their power?" There are means and there is a clear goal. They are generous in the directions they need to retain their posts."

There are about 470,000 pensioners in Armenia,” the paper says.

As of July 4, a dollar is exchanged for almost 387 drams in Armenia.