Prime minister: Accumulative pension reform is most difficult one

“The accumulative pension system is at the center of the public’s attention. We developed this concept ourselves. Two presidents, three prime ministers and four coalition forces worked on it. It has been our joint work,” Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan said in his speech of welcome at the third ‘Annual International Pension Conference: Opportunities, Challenges, and Prospects’.

In his words, the accumulative pension system is the most difficult reform in the world. “But it is important for development of our country. Our opposition says that they don’t trust us, that there is emigration, but the question is how to rectify it. Reforms are the right way to rectify the situation. These reforms are painful because we will have to make our citizens change their rules of behavior, as a result of which the rules of behavior of both the state and youth will change,” he noted.

According to the prime minister, the new pension system will instill a new mentality in Armenia, the government’s work, and society – “the transition is painful, but necessary’.

“Our opponents say that there is an alternative: we should make oligarchs pay more taxes and so on. It is a correct claim, but it will only solve the problem of current pensioners. The most serious shortcoming of the old system that there is no link between wages and pensions, while state budget funds are not enough to pay pension,” T. Sargsyan said.

Working citizens are responsible for their future from the moment when they start to work, according to the prime minister.

“A working citizen should share with the state his responsibility for the future,” T. Sargsyan said.