Armenian government backs bill to raise pensions
The Armenian government approved a bill on making amendments and supplements to the law on state pensions at a session on Thursday.
The legislative initiative proposing to increase the minimum pension in the country is aimed at overcoming the extreme poverty among pensioners.
The number of pensioners is estimated at 497,394 people, including military pensioners, as of 1 January 2019.
According to the draft law, the new basic pension will be 25,500 drams (approximately $52.50), which, the government claims, will be enough to top the food (extreme) poverty threshold which reportedly stood at 23,313 drams in 2016.
The new measure will enter into force on 1 January 2019.