Registered jobs in Armenia crossed the threshold of 700 thousand, which is another unprecedented result in the history of the Third Republic, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said in his new Year address.
‘Thus, we can record that since the victory of the People's, velvet, non-violent revolution of 2018, around 153 thousand new jobs have been created in Armenia. It is important to note that compared to November of last year, the average salary of one worker in November of this year increased by about 45 thousand drams or 20 percent, which means that the fears that Armenia will face a social crisis in the conditions of global inflation did not come true.
On the contrary, there is a construction boom in the Republic of Armenia, a housing construction boom. Tens of thousands of families are getting apartments in newly built buildings, including with the support of the Government. In 2022, we refunded 36.5 billion drams of income tax to the families purchasing apartments, in addition to 22.7 billion drams of the previous year.
In addition, thousands of young families benefited from mortgage loan support programs for the birth of a baby. In 2022, the amount of support under this program reached 2.1 billion drams. More than 10,000 third and every subsequent child receives 50,000 drams monthly assistance from the state, over 10.000 children.
I would like to highlight our plan to build 300 schools and 500 kindergartens, which is already launched and is gaining momentum. During 2022, we commissioned 24 schools and 46 kindergartens that have been overhauled, reconstructed or newly built. Hundreds of new schools and kindergartens are under construction, reconstruction or major renovation. This is an integral part of the institutional reforms taking place in the country, which have not only educational, managerial, security, but also a deep historical and socio-psychological context.
The large-scale reforms we are implementing in the police system are important, the most visible result of which is the introduction of the Patrol Police with new standards in Armenia.
The deep and comprehensive reforms that have been launched in the army are of key importance. The formation of army based on a literate, patriotic, professional soldier and officer that meets modern requirements and conditions has started, which should be combined with at least doubling of military salaries, a system of social guarantees for soldiers and their families, and new weapons and equipment. But we need such an army not for war, but for peace, to protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity. We do not set eyes on others’ land and we expect others not to set eyes on our land either, and with this formula we are ready to go to peace.
I also consider the large-scale events that we held in Armenia in 2022 to be important. European Boxing Championship, Junior Eurovision, Starmus International Festival, International Biology Olympiad. These are events, by holding which, we appear to the world in a new way and the world recognizes Armenia in a new way.
We bring all this to life primarily thanks to the unprecedented growth of tax revenues in the state budget. The tax revenues of the 2022 state budget amounted to 1 trillion 925 billion drams, which is 670 billion drams, or 53 percent, or one and a half billion dollars more than the same indicator of 2018. But this index is primarily thanks to working, value adding people, tax-paying entrepreneurs of the Republic of Armenia, and I want to thank them for not considering the taxes paid to the state budget a financial loss, but an investment in the future of their state, themselves and their children.
It is with those funds that we repaired more than 500 kilometers of roads in 2022, started the process of doubling teachers' salaries, launched a satellite into space for the first time in the history of the Third Republic, buy new buses and trolleybuses for the capital, raised the minimum salary, in line with our promise, we have established an airline, raised the salaries of scientists, increased the funding of science by 150 percent compared to 2018, increased pensions from September 2022 and will increase them again from July 2023. Moreover, in the case of cashless trade, we have refunded about 527 million drams to pensioners and beneficiaries, and I want to express special thanks to the banks that participate in the program on an equal basis with the Government.
Thanks to these additional budgetary funds, in 2022 we served 786,000 state-ordered health care cases, which is more than double compared to 2017, by 437,000 cases or 125 percent more,’ ARKA reports.
