YEREVAN, MARCH 17, NOYAN TAPAN. Independent deputy of the National Assembly Victor Dallakian proposed increasing pensions, benefits and other social payments by 20%. He said at the parliament on March 17 that on March 11 he put into circulation a bill on making an amendment to the Law on Indexation of State Expenditures in Social Protection Sector, and the bill envisages the above mentioned changes. According to V. Dallakian, a 20% rise in prices of living essentials was recorded in Armenia recently as a result of the financial and economic crisis, the change in the dram-dollar exchange rate, and the expected growth of gas, power and water tariffs. The rise in prices of living essentails has resulted in a decline of the population's purchasing capacity and considerable deterioration of its social condition. The inflation has had an especially negative impact on the vulnerable section, which, according to the deputy, makes about a million people. He expressed an opinion that the financial resources necessary for this legislative initiative can be obtained by making big business pay the full amount of taxes, "the necessity of which has been repeatedly noted by the prime minister", as well as by reducing the inflated expenditures of the Central Bank of Armenia and the state machinery.

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