Armenian parliament raises minimum wage to 35,000 drams
13.11.2012,
20:27
Armenia’s parliament has passed today in the second and final reading a bill that increases the minimum wage by 2,500 drams (les than $7) to 35,000. The bill when signed into law will come into force form next January.
YEREVAN, November 13. / ARKA /. Armenia’s parliament has passed today in the second and final reading a bill that increases the minimum wage by 2,500 drams (les than $7) to 35,000. The bill when signed into law will come into force form next January.
The bill was criticized by opposition lawmakers who claim the government has sufficient resources to enact a much larger increase. Earlier, the secretary of the Prosperous Armenia Party, Naira Zohrabyan, said why the minimum wage must be lower than the subsistence level which officially is 53,000 drams.
Another MP from the Prosperous Armenia, Mikael Mlekumian, said the government says the economic expansion is close to 7%, up form projected 4.2 percent for this year.
"If these figures are correct, then the government is to be flexible enough to raise the minimum wage to 50,000 drams,’ he said. However, only 9 MPs voted against the bill and 14 abstained.
Finance minister Vache Gabrielyan, who presented the bill to the parliament yesterday, argued that this minimum wage growth rate is the most optimal being in tune with budget potential and will not entail layoffs and growing informal sector. He also said the five-year program of the government envisages an increase of minimum wage up to 65 thousand drams in 2016. ($ 1 - 409.47 drams). - 0 –
