Armenia’s government to encourage work, not poverty: Nikol Pashinyan

Armenia’s acting Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan speaking at the parliament today said he does not accuse the people of laziness and inactivity, instead he accuses the former authorities who encouraged poverty instead of encouraging work.

“With their monopolies and economic restrictions they encouraged the poverty,” Pashinyan said.

The acting PM said that the person able to work should not receive allowance. The new policy will correct this system. The person able to work will not get allowance, this assistance will be targeted.

“Not a father able to work should get allowance but the child who needs social assistance. The important thing here is not putting a condition that you will be deprived of assistance if your father gets job,” he said, adding that the assistance should be targeted.

“The policy of our government will be encouraging work and encouraging people to stand, believe in their abilities, not to adapt to poverty and despair and start working,” he said.

He stressed that there are 350,000 people in Armenia working in private companies and paying primary taxes to the state of which the salaries of budget employees are being formed.

“Our issue is to conduct a policy promoting the growth of the number of primary tax payers. Now we have a situation when these 350,000 people, as tax payers, bear the financial responsibility of the whole state system,” he said.