Thursday, 27 June 2013
Minimum Wage Rise To Be Covered With Extra Revenue
A regular Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan.
Before proceeding to the agenda, the Premier evoked a number of issues of public concern. Tigran Sargsyan instructed to provide comprehensive information to citizens through mass media. “This is the way to move forward,” the Prime Minister said (see separate).
The government amended a number of decisions, conditioned by the scheduled rise to AMD 45 thousand in the rate of the minimum wage as of this July 1. The basic salary of those groups employed in the public sector has been overhauled to comply with the minimum wage established by law.
In the meantime, the new arrangement provides that the pension rates applicable to servicemen and persons with equal rights will be maintained, along with the size of full-time remunerations, which serve as a basis for assessing the level of monetary assistance.
To ensure proper fulfillment of budget expenditures by central and local governments, the meeting amended the 2013 State budget, establishing that the aforementioned allocations should be made at the expense of extra revenue to be collected within the running year.
“Under this decision, we will add 20 billion drams to the revenue side of the annual State budget. According to the second clause, we will earmark AMD3.8bn to fully cover the extra costs associated with the planned rise in the minimum wage. A portion of the amount will go to support local authorities so that they can comply with the increase in the minimum wage,” the Prime Minister noted.
The government established a sales price, AMD369.600 VAT included, for the multifunctional cash registers available from the Cash Register Introduction Office SNCO. The new cash registers will be used by companies with annual turnover of AMD500mn and over.
The government decided that a panel operational under the Minister of Finance will be empowered to coordinate the multi-donor trust fund-supported grant program under the Public Financial Management Capacity Building facility signed between the Republic of Armenia and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Ministry of Finance will responsible for successful implementation of the grant program.
The government redistributed the 2013 State budget and amended a previous decision with a view to extending AMD60mn to the Ministry of Education and Science for transfer to the State Institute of Theatrical Art and Cinematography to ensure its financial stability and support international functionality.
The meeting passed another decision, allocating AMD80mn to the Ministry of Culture to host the 14th edition of “Yerevan Perspectives” international music festival in 2013.
