"I suggest that we make a decision now that there is no cash pension at all, we should give the pension to everyone through cards," said Nikol Pashinyan at the government meeting today.
He considered the decision to provide pensions by card as a positive one, because there are no more complications of receiving the pension in cash.
"If a person is bedridden, what difference does it make to him if someone counts the pension in cash, brings it to the shelf, or puts his card there and adds that money to his card," said the head of the RA executive body.
He also claimed that they increase pensions every day, every month, every year.
"We are criticized for exploiting pensioners in order to increase their pensions, reduce the shadow, etc. Everyone should make an effort for the establishment of the state, and there is nothing wrong with pensioners also making an effort," he said at the government meeting.
Social Security Minister Narek Mkrtchyan mentioned that pensions have been increased 3 times since 2018. Pashinyan corrected the minister and mentioned that pensions have been increased 4 times since 2018.
"We have a problem with communication, you see another one, the person is talking, saying, ``they haven't raised the pension yet.'' Listen, pension has never been raised in Armenia in 5 years as much as it has been in the last 5 years, go and look at the history.
For the first time in the history of RA, in 2022, the minimum pension will be higher than the minimum food basket," Pashinyan said, noting that in the case of card trading, they increase their pension every month and day through the system of retroactive payments.
Before that, Minister Narek Mkrtchyan presented the project to extend the post-payment system of card trading for pensioners, noting that during the project 15.2 billion drams have already been returned to pensioners and there are 300 thousand beneficiaries.
