YEREVAN. – Pension reform is necessary in Armenia in a long-term perspective, chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Arthur Javadyan said in parliament on Monday.

Without pension reform, it will be difficult to achieve stable pension system and generate “long money”, he said.

“We see that many citizens are not ready to accumulate amounts that they will be able to use in another 25 years. This is the reason that the reform provoked negative emotions. Our job, as well as yous, is to explain the public what is the purpose of this reform. Sooner or later we must undertake it, just as many other states,” he said.

Armenian parliamentary majority on Thursday voted to approve amendments to the law on pensions that was submitted by the government.

The proposed measures, namely cancellation of penalties for rejecting  accumulative pension payments, are accepted temporarily  until the new legislation in accordance with the decision of the Constitutional Court on April 2 is adopted.  The final package of laws has to be adopted before September 30. Thus, the mandatory funded pension system, which came into force in Armenia from January 1, was temporarily transformed into voluntary.