YEREVAN.- The goal of the optimization within government structure is to increase the functional efficiency of the government, and not to save money.  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday said the aforementioned at the National Assembly, as he presented the five-year program of the Government of Armenia.

Commenting on the remark that instead of  poverty reduction,  job cuts are expected, the prime minister noted that according to their preliminary estimates, at the first stage, 150-200 people will lose their jobs.

"Maybe even less. And these will be highly qualified specialists,” said Pashinyan.

"Each state official, ministerial employee will get an opportunity to prove that he/she works and has enough qualification for doing this work. In the first phase the ministries will be combined automatically. Of course, the repeated jobs will be cut but in general no big job cuts are expected,” the PM said.