The growth of the 2023 budget in the sphere of social protection compared to 2018 is 56%, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during the discussion of the 2023 state budget draft in parliament on Wednesday.

"It will turn out that we will increase pensions three or maybe four times in two years. Once we have increased it since September, while introducing a 10% refund system in case of cashless trade. Next time pensions will be increased in July 2023, and we will raise the size of the refunding system accordingly," Pashinyan said.

He reminded that in 2023 the program, which provides financial assistance at the birth of the third and each subsequent child, will continue. "According to the results of 10 months of this year, about 8919 children receive this assistance. In case of birth of a child we implement a mortgage program, which is also very important," said the head of the Cabinet.

According to him, the health care budget in 2023 will increase by 87% compared with 2018. "The salaries of medical workers in polyclinics and rural outpatient clinics will increase by an average of 40,000 drams, which is 20-22%. Another important, revolutionary change occurred in healthcare. According to statistics, in the 10 months of 2022, 150000 more cases were served in the health care system under the state order than in 2018," concluded the head of the government.