IMF: Armenia’s experience in pension system reformation exemplary

YEREVAN, April 30. /ARKA/. Armenia’s experience in pension system reformation and its steps taken in this direction are exemplary, International monetary Fund Resident Representative in Armenia Guillermo Tolosa said on Tuesday as met with Armenian Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.

Tolosa was quoted by the government’s press office as saying that the reforms have resulted in creation of a firm legal framework. 

Sargsyan, on his part, thanked the IMF resident representative, who is completing his mission in Armenia, for his work and expressed hope that Tolosa will not lose his ties with Armenia. 

The pension system reformation was launched in Armenia on January 1, 2011. The obligatory accumulative pension system is planned to be introduced in the country in January 2014. The system targets all those citizens born later than Jan 1, 1974. 

The accumulated funds will enable future retirees to shape the size of their pensions at own discretion. 

Under the reform plan approved by the government years ago, Armenia was to switch to the new system in January 2010 whereby the amount of monthly benefits paid to retired citizens will depend on their and their employers’ contributions to the fund. People will send to their accumulative pension account 5% of their salaries every month, and another 5%, but no more than AMD 25,000, will be added by the government. The existing pay-as-you-go system essentially does not differentiate between pensioners’ employment histories. -0-