Across the board, pensions will be raised by 10 percent. (The minimum pension, for example, will grow from about $27 to about $34.)

The minimum pension will also be raised by 24 percent, to 13,000 drams (about $34) and an increase in benefits to low-income families (approximately 105,000 such families), to 29,350 drams (about $76).

The last rise in pensions and benefits took place last year, by 2,500 and 3,000 (about $7 and $8), respectively.

The auditing was held in 14 out of 51 territorial departments of the State Social Insurance Service.

Late last year it was decided to put Haypost Company in charge of paying pensions in Yerevan through its 90 city offices – a function that before that had been performed by the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs.

While the government periodically raises pensions and social benefits in Armenia in line with what the majority party pledged before the 2007 and 2008 elections, the money is gone before pensioners get it – devoured by cost of living increases that are blamed on global tendencies and on domestic weather.

Simultaneously, Armenian lawmakers hold parliamentary hearings to discuss the government-drafted legislative package on pension reforms adopted through the first reading in June. The package consists of about 50 draft laws and is likely to be put on a National Assembly four-day session agenda in two months for the second-reading discussion and vote.

Last week, the bill on ‘State Pensions’, which comprises pension reforms, was discussed and passed with first reading at the special session of the National Assembly (NA).