WB to help Armenia develop methodology for predicting possible changes in poverty level

YEREVAN, June 25th. / ARKA /. The World Bank will help Armenia develop a methodology for predicting possible changes in poverty level due to the planned rise in the price of electricity from August 1, labor and social affairs minister Artem Asatryan said at a briefing in the government today.

"We want to develop a methodology as soon as possible to asses the risks in advance so that not to wait for the findings of a study of households that would take at least 18 months,’ said Asatryan.

He also said  the government has ruled today to  raise monthly allowances for poor families in Armenia by 2000 drams to 32, 350 drams.

Prime Minister Hovik Abrahamian, opening a government session today, said the government will subsidize part of electricity bills for some 105,000 poor families or 400,000 people. The additional allowance per family will rise by 24,000 drams (overall that amount will make 2.5 billion drams for the country).

According to him, an average Armenian family uses per month 200 kilowatts of electricity, therefore the additional burden for each family will be 1,400 drams. ($ - 472.56 drams). - 0-