Armenian government to allocate AMD 43 billion to Nagorno-Karabakh refugees to pay home rents and utility bills
YEREVAN, October 19. /ARKA/. The Armenian government has formally approved today the release of billions of drams to assist refugees from Nagorno-Karabakh in renting housing and paying utility bills.
According to Labor and Social Affairs Minister Narek Mkrtchyan, the refugees will be able to receive 50 thousand drams per person each month starting from October 20.
The assistance will be provided for the six months. The minister specified that only those residents of Nagorno-Karabakh who do not have housing in Armenia and are in the territory of the country are eligible to assistance. Those, who own housing in Armenia, will be paid 10 thousand drams each for the payment of utility bills.
Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan noted that the total amount of funds allocated from the budget for rendering assistance to the refugees will exceed AMD 43 billion, an equivalent of $100 million.
According to the Prime Minister, these expenses do not take into account the funds allocated for the initial reception of refugees when they started arriving in Armenia in late September.
On September 19, Azerbaijan launched what it called an "anti-terrorist" operation against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, also known as Artsakh.
The assault lasted 24 hours and ended with Azerbaijani forces gaining full control of the region for the first time since the 1990s war.
This led to a vast refugee crisis, with more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians fleeing the region to the Republic of Armenia. -0-
