Batoyan: The decision to extend social assistance programs in  connection with COVID-19 has not yet been made

ArmInfo. A decision to extend social assistance programs in connection with COVID-19 has not yet been made. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia Zaruhi Batoyan announced at a press conference on April 14, talking about extending the terms of the state of emergency until May  14 of this year. According to her, it is worth thinking in the  direction of implementing long-term measures, which may also be in  the form of a revision of state programs.

Speaking about the ongoing assistance programs in connection with the  situation with the coronavirus, Batoyan recalled that applications  through the www.ssa.am website are accepted only for two programs -  the 8th and 9th. For parts of the 4th, 6th and 7th programs,  information is posted on the www.ssa.am website regarding whether a  particular citizen is among their beneficiaries or not. Corresponding  payments by the number of beneficiaries have already been transferred  to banks, and citizens can get their help by presenting an identity  card.

The 4th program is aimed at providing compensation in the amount of  100 thousand drams to parents with children under the age of 14 years  who were released from officially registered work. The 6th program is  aimed at citizens who, being registered in the private sector, have  lost their jobs (the number of beneficiaries is 6,723). The 7th  program initially planned to help pregnant women whose husbands lost  their jobs during the period from March 13 to March 31. In this  regard, thanks to the information provided by the RA Ministry of  Healthcare 5,957 beneficiaries were specified, of which over 3,700  have already received payments. Meanwhile, according to Batoyan, it  was decided to expand this program, and also include pregnant women,  whose husbands did not work as of March 31.  Their lists are being  updated.

The 8th program is aimed at the currently registered employees of the  areas most affected by coronavirus. It started yesterday, and over 45  thousand applications have already been received, of which 27  thousand have been approved with a total funding of 1.8 billion  drams. You can get this financial assistance from banks from today.

The beneficiaries of the 9th program are parents of children under  the age of 14 who do not have a registered job.  The program was  launched yesterday late in the evening, however, the volume of  applications was so large that on the www.ssa.am website this program  temporarily was suspended. As expected, the application system will  work again during the current day.

The 11th program was announced yesterday, implying partial  compensation of utility bills for February, provided that the amount  of gas consumed by a subscriber per month did not exceed 10 thousand  drams, and electricity consumption - 5 thousand drams. The  beneficiaries of the program are 222 thousand subscribers (or about  600 thousand citizens). Batoyan informed that regarding the  compensation of utility bills, the 12th program is also being  discussed, the details of which will be announced later.

The Minister admitted that she did not consider those social and  economic measures that are being implemented in connection with the  situation with COVID-19 satisfactory from the point of view of a  complete solution to the problem. <<These are situational solutions  to mitigate the situation. Meanwhile, discussions are ongoing on more  sustainable assistance>, she said.

Information regarding social assistance programs implemented by the  Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs of the Republic of Armenia can  be obtained by calling the hotline 114 (working around the clock) and  011-300-114 (working only on weekdays and hours).