Under the 2010 draft budget, social expenditures are to total 242bn AMD, which is 9bn AMD less than this year and constitutes 7.5% of GDP, RA Deputy Minister of Finance Pavel Safaryan told reporters at the RA Parliament. He pointed out that social expenditures are a priority for the Armenian Government.

Safaryan said that 110,000 families are to receive family allowance next year — 4,000 more families than this year.

Responding to the NEWS.am correspondent’s question about the reason for the larger number of beneficiary families, Safaryan said that 114,000 families were registered as beneficiaries. Later, however, as a result of verifications, their number was reduced to 106,000, and 110,000 beneficiary families have been registered for next year.

“The average amount of monthly family allowances is equal to that of 2009 – 23,000 AMD per family. Birth grants will be paid as well. A lump sum grant for three and more children is 430,000 AMD. The beneficiary families will receive 50,000 AMD for one child,” Safaryan said. He added that the average monthly pension remained unchanged – 23,000 AMD. The basic pension is 8,000 AMD a month." Safaryan found it difficult to logically explain how a pensioner without a service record can live on 8,000 AMD (about U.S. $22) a month.