Ruling Party Discussing Postponing Controversial Pension System by a Year: Paper

The elite of the ruling Republican Party of Armenia is discussing the option of postponing for one year the mandatory component of the new funded pension system introduced on January 1, reports local daily Haykakan Zhamanak, citing its own sources.

The opposition newspaper reports that though they're simply talks and there is no final decision yet, the discussions are becoming more serious, due to the events in Ukraine. 

"The authors of the proposal to postpone the mandatory funded [pension] for one year argue that the Armenian population's discontent with the current administration already goes quite deep and there's no need to create a new, additional cause for complaint. And the events in Ukraine have shown the fate that threatens the government as a result of nationwide unrest.

"In other words, some government representatives fear that in the case of existing grievances the mandatory funded [pension] component might become the spark that will lead [Armenian President] Serzh Sargsyan in the ‘footsteps’ of [Ukrainian President Viktor] Yanukovych. 

"… On the other hand, however, the current government has a great stake in the mandatory funded component, since it expects to collect $100 million annually in supplementary funds from it and in different ways use them to conceal the many 'holes' in the budget," reports the newspaper.