The problem of insufficiently high pension payments is one of the most common problems in the modern world. Countries and states are developing their economies and politics, but all the time they forget about the common people, for whom it is not so easy to live in such conditions. The country stops thinking about the common people, about such vulnerable sections of the population as pensioners.
But such a problem as low prices does not exist in our country, but also, for example, in such a developing and progressive republic as Armenia. Despite its development and success among other countries and republics, there is still a problem associated with the low solvency of pensioners. Today we will consider the issue of pensions in Armenia.
Pension system of Armenia
First, let's look at the pension system of Armenia so that we can compare it with what it was and what has become thanks to pension reforms. As in other countries, for example Russia, pension payments for a future pension amount to 10% of the total earnings of each citizen who works. Many people wonder what is included in this 10%, which is withdrawn and deducted every month.
They consist of:
- 5% is paid by the citizen himself;
- the remaining 5% is paid by the state from budget funds.
According to the latest data, in the event of reform, it is planned to change this interest rate to this type - 2.5% and 7.5%. This means that now, in connection with the adopted reform, the state will pay the majority of pension savings instead of the citizen, and the citizen will contribute only a small part to his future pension.
Important! It is worth noting that in order for this system to come into effect, the state will need much more funds than is currently available in the country’s budget. Namely, the approximate amount, according to rough estimates, is from 12 to 15 billion in local currency annually.
Americas
On the American continents, the leader in terms of life expectancy is the United States, where it is 67 years for both men and women. Average age life indicators: men – 77 years, women – 82 years.
In Canada, the life expectancy rate is lower - 65 years. But Canadians live longer than their American neighbors: 80 - m., 84 - w.
Latin American countries generally adhere to the rule that women retire earlier than men. The difference is usually the “standard” 5 years.
The exception is Jamaica, where both men and women retire at age 60. At the same time, the climate has a good effect on the lifespan of the local population: 74 years for men, almost 79 years for women.
Life expectancy equal to 65 years for men and 60 years for women is established in Argentina (life expectancy - 73 for men and 80 for women), Brazil (71.5 and 79, respectively), Chile (77.5 and 83.5) .
Benefits and allowances in Armenia
In Armenia, there are several types of benefits that are paid to certain citizens. They are as follows:
- Child support allowance.
- Benefits for low-income families.
- Benefit in the form of maternity capital.
Each of the benefits provided represents a certain fixed amount determined by the state. However, this year a number of reforms regarding benefits have been adopted, and the main goal of the reform is to increase the amounts paid to needy citizens.
According to the adopted change, now the basic amount of benefits for one family is about 18,000 drams. It should also be noted that this amount and the purpose of benefits are generally determined by the place of residence of the family, as well as the amount of income for the family as a whole. And now it is planned to increase the amount of preferential payments by approximately from 5,500 to 8,000 drams.
Minimum and average pension
At the end of 2020, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan announced an increase in the minimum pension. From January 1, it was supposed to be 600 euros, which is more than 300 percent higher than last year. According to the politician’s comments, this level of minimum pension in Armenia in 2020 will improve the well-being of citizens and put the country on the path to European development.
However, later the Prime Minister had to apologize to citizens for failing to raise social payments to the promised level. The monthly pension in Armenia was 550 euros (about 40,000 in rubles), which is 50 euros less than what the government promised. He cited a 20 percent reduction in the cost of utilities as one of the reasons, while the IMF offered good loan conditions only for a 10 percent reduction. When asked what the average pension is in Armenia in 2020, the Prime Minister said - from 550 to 1000 euros.
In the next 5 years, the government promised to raise the indicator to the level of Germany, France and other leading European countries. An annual pension increase of 100-200 euros is planned.
An additional bonus for length of service is also provided for the minimum deduction amount, which increases the final amount. Also, the total amount of the pension can be increased due to the voluntary funded part.
There are 2 voluntary savings funds that promise to increase the investment size by 5 percent:
- Amundi (France)
- C-Quadrat (Germany).
There are no plans to raise the retirement age in Armenia for women and men in the next 5 years.
Retirement age in Armenia
Now let's talk about retirement age in a country like Armenia. According to the decision taken by the state, the retirement age in the country is equal for both men and women. Thus, any citizen of Armenia has the right to retire at the age of 63.
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However, recently the country is beginning to think about raising the retirement age of citizens retiring in 2020. This decision is connected with the fact that in the future, namely in 2023, the amount of money for pensions will increase significantly, and the amount will increase by 20 billion drams. And the total amount of pension payments will be 230 billion.
Based on the statement of the country's Prime Minister, increasing the retirement age is an inevitable decision that the country simply needs. It is planned to increase the age slightly, but only by 2 years. And in the near future, the retirement age will be 65 years.
Sayyan pointed out that the current pension system in Armenia cannot in any way solve the task it has set for itself. Today, as the Deputy Minister recalled, there are 455,609 pensioners registered in Armenia, plus persons receiving benefits. In total, the beneficiaries of the system are 520 thousand people.
“By and large, when considering the problems that we solve when distributing these funds, we understand that in essence nothing can be solved: pensions continue to be kept at a low level, the system is ineffective and in the near future, given the increasing number of pensioners, the problem will become increasingly difficult to solve,” - explained the deputy minister.
Sainyan believes that the best and most acceptable option is to increase the retirement age, since “artificially” keeping the retirement age at the current level is unreasonable. The freed up funds can be used to solve more pressing social problems, he added. It is thanks to reforms in the pension sector, as Saiyan noted, that non-working mothers have the right to receive maternity funds.
Permanent news address: eadaily.com/ru/news/2018/02/21/v-armenii-mogut-povysit-pensionnyy-vozrast Published on February 21, 2020 at 22:02
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Average and minimum pension amounts in Armenia in 2020
To begin with, it is worth saying that pensions and their amount are deducted taking into account the following criteria, namely:
- Have at least 25 years of work experience;
- Loss of a breadwinner in a family;
- Due to reaching retirement age - 63 years.
There is also a minimum pension that every pensioner is entitled to - 6,000 rubles monthly. Due to the fact that almost every citizen has the right to preferential payments, the total average pension amount is 8,000 rubles .
In connection with the planned reform in the country, the state is going to increase the pension by 360%, which will ultimately amount to 600 euros monthly , instead of 96 euros previously.
Your trusted source
There will be no pension below 25,500 drams in Armenia
The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of Armenia presented the draft “On introducing amendments and additions to the RA Law “On State Pensions””, which proposes to set the minimum pension at 25,500 drams from January 1, 2019.
The goal of the project is to overcome extreme poverty among pensioners.
Let us note that according to the current legislation in Armenia, the basic pension is 16 thousand drams. Added to this are bonuses for length of service - 800 drams for the first 10 years and 500 for the rest.
Armenia. Pensioners “abroad” have their power of attorney returned
Last summer, many Armenian pensioners living abroad experienced a real shock - the newly issued law ordered them to receive their pensions in person, while issuance by proxy was prohibited. The power of attorney for retirement is back in force.
NEW TIME
The verdict on the resuscitation of the “three-year pension” has not yet been made
Last summer, many of the country's pensioners experienced a real shock - the newly issued law ordered them to receive their pensions in person, while issuance by proxy was prohibited. Those who had been absent for many years were allowed to take into their hands the accrued amount not for the last three years - that was the previous law - but only for the last year. This kind of know-how was provided in connection with the new pension system being introduced. However, recently readers contacted NV after hearing about the cancellation of all of the above. The NV correspondent contacted a number of authorities, where a positive answer was indeed given, but so far only on one of the reform points.
Let us recall that in mid-summer, Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Artur Grigoryan said that in order to exclude the human factor from the pension provision process, it was decided to apply a number of reforms. In particular, according to the new pension system, all data about a citizen of the country (passport data, information about his employment, income level, death, etc.) had to be merged into a single information database from a dozen information databases. So that this guides social service employees when calculating and issuing pensions. Among other things, as the State Social Security Service explained to NV at the time, from now on pensioners staying abroad would have to receive money personally. For example, if the kopecks previously allocated to the old man could be “deposited” by proxy by neighbors or relatives, then in the near future this should have been excluded. The fact of a pensioner’s departure from the country, which is recorded at the checkpoint, should have been immediately transferred to the above-mentioned database. And the pension should have been “frozen”. Upon return, as the State Service assured, the pensioner could successfully cash it out. Which, after some time, came into force, causing a lot of criticism.
In fact, the reformers, trying their best to eliminate the slightest trick and manipulation on the part of the system’s employees, apparently, did not greatly strain their logical thinking. After all, even if a neighbor tried to make money on someone’s pension, the power of attorney, being a notarized document, could always serve as a reason for receiving what is due in court.
By and large, the new product promised to complicate rather than make easier the life of a pensioner, who would be forced to come annually to collect the funds due, having spent a lot of money. Not to mention the purely physical inability to fly - after all, many of them are not young. Is it in vain that they move outside the country, more often to their children?! The native child, of course, will not ask the parent for money. But what is it like to be in the role of a freeloader yourself? Monthly 35-37 thousand drams per month is not God knows what kind of money. However, over the course of three years, neighbors and relatives who were trusted to communicate with the postman accumulated a decent amount of money, which was immediately collected upon arrival. That same summer, many of those who arrived for a three-year “allowance” were presented with a fact: get it for a year and no more! Since August, many dissatisfied compatriots have contacted the editorial office of NV. And one of the visitors completely burst into tears - she flew in in the hope of coping with a serious illness, which she hoped to spend three years of contributions on...
Fortunately, as it turned out, the situation did not go unnoticed by specialists from the Office of the Human Rights Defender. In this regard, two applications were prepared and sent to the Constitutional Court. As the press service of the human rights organization told NV, on the first issue - it was about the “incomprehensibility” of abolishing the system of paying pensions by proxy - a decision was already made on October 3. It revised the previous rules in favor of pensioners - as the press service said, now they again have every right to resort to the help of trusted persons.
True, even after the verdict, the Office of the Human Rights Defender continued to receive signals about non-compliance with the decision of the Constitutional Court. And this is despite the fact that decisions of the Constitutional Court have the force of law. Representatives of the organization informed the Constitutional Court about what was happening, and it must be assumed that there will be progress on the issue in the near future. Moreover, human rights activists have received information that, in order to dot all the i's, the relevant authorities are already working on a draft of a new law, which certainly cannot be disavowed. The press service of the State Social Security Service confirmed this fact. Experts are really poring over a new “letter” that has yet to enter the discussion stage. Only after this the bill will be sent to the National Assembly for discussion. Whether this will happen at least before the New Year is unknown. So, the Civil Service has not yet undertaken to draw any conclusions, much less make specific statements, but they have promised to inform the public at the first progress. As for the second application of the Office of the Human Rights Defender, it concerned restrictions regarding the payment of pensions not for the last three years of the pensioner’s absence in the country, but only for the last year. The initiators do not advocate that the Constitutional Court take into account the distinctions provided for by the legislation of the country - it turns out that if legislative amendments are, so to speak, burdensome for citizens, then they should not have retroactive effect. Simply put, the decision to reduce the three-year time interval to one year should apply only to those compatriots who became pensioners not before, but after the adoption of this law. Or they will retire in the future. As the press service of the Office of the Human Rights Defender explained, the verdict on the issue will be rendered on December 11. The organization really hopes for a fair reversal of the recent legislative change. Indeed, in this case, potential pensioners, being aware of the new order, will at least be able to choose whether to live abroad or stay in the country, receiving a pension in full, without deductions. Although, to be honest, it is not entirely clear why a person who has worked for the good of his homeland and pays contributions to the Pension Fund should generally lose his pension for the years spent behind the cordon.
Perhaps, the publisher of the letter of the law was at one time guided by mistrust, assuming that somewhere in the distant distances, “our” pensioner could get another pension for himself using the left path? But this can certainly be checked and measures taken. And not to drive all pensioners without exception from country to country.
Asya Tsaturova
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Details: NEW TIME, Yerevan, Asya Tsaturova Illustration: https://profi-forex.org/ “NP”