YEREVAN. - The volume of pension accumulations in Armenia in the framework of the private pension accumulation system has reached 27,5 billion AMD (approx. $58 million), or 0,5% GDP. Karen Hakobyan, Head of Securities Market Regulation Division at Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) said the aforementioned at the 4th annual Pensionary Conference in Yerevan.

Currently there are about 130,000 citizens who make regular accumulations.  

Hakobyan also said that on 24 January 2014, the Constitutional Court of Armenia cancelled the accumulation payments until 1 July 2014, due to which the accumulation capital ceased growing then.

“After the legislation on the accumulative pensions came into force, the number of the system participants rocketed, and the state co-funding grew together with their accumulations,” Hakobyan said.

The second fall covered May-June 2015, when the Constitutional Court ruled that the persons making accumulations on a voluntary basis can claim back their holdings. Over 60,000 people requested and got back nearly 2,5 billion AMD from the system then.

Now 3-4,000 people – persons who conclude employment contracts for the first time - join the system every month.

Since 1 July 2014, the private pension accumulation system came into force for state sector employees, and starting from 1 July 2017 it will become mandatory for everyone. The pension reform, which requires citizens to make additional payments, hit a raw nerve among the citizens in 2014.