Newspaper: New scandal brewing around funded pension in Armenia

 A new scandal is brewing around the funded pension system that was introduced in Armenia not so long ago, a local "Zhamanak" ("Time") newspaper writes.

According to the source, the Government has not yet transferred the pension payments charged from the monthly salaries of the citizens to their pension accounts. "According to the Law on the Funded Pension that was amended following a relevant decision of the Constitutional Court, the pension payments that are charged from the salaries on a monthly basis must be transferred to the state budget and then to the pension accounts of the citizens. Since April the amounts that have been charged from the citizens and transferred to the budget have not be transferred to the pensions funds or the pension accounts of the citizens yet," the paper writes. 

To recall, the mandatory funded pension system was introduced in Armenia from July 1 2014 for the employees of the government sector.  For the private sector, the system will be gradually introduced on a voluntary basis within three years.  This provision meets the requirements of the Constitutional Court.  Pension payments are undergoing changes and a social-purpose monthly payment in the amount of 5% of the salary is suggested.  This will apply top the employees whose salary does not exceed 500,000 drams. For the employees with higher salary, the payment will make up 25,000 drams. 

The mandatory funded pension system applies to the citizens born after Jan 1 1974 (the citizens below 40).  5% of their salaries will be transferred to their personal accumulative accounts. The government will transfer a similar amount (but no more than 25,000 drams).  In November 2013 the Armenian Central Bank (CB) registered the heads of the pension funds C- QUADRAT Ampega Asset Management Armenia and Amundi-ACBA- Asset-Management on 11 December.