The government decision of increasing the pensions by 60% in 2008 has caused panic among businessmen. There are rumors that the government is planning to increase the social payments in order to afford the increase of pensions. The amount of the social payments was last increased in 2005 when they were increased from 5000 to 7000 AMD. Yesterday, however, the RA Minister of Finances and Economy, Vardan Khachatryan denied by saying, “No, there is nothing like this and we have even not talked about that possibility.”
