A Cabinet meeting was held today, chaired by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The meeting first approved the Government’s legislative initiative on the draft law on amending the RA Raw “On Holidays and Memorable Dates.” The need to adopt the draft law is due to the unprecedented political situation in Armenia in April, 2018. The amendment suggests celebrating the last Saturday of April as the Day of the Citizen of the Republic of Armenia in commemoration of the victory of the non-violent velvet popular revolution in Armenia in April-May 2018. The bill also provides that should May 1 be a Saturday, the Day of the Citizen of the Republic of Armenia will be celebrated on the last Sunday of April.

The meeting next approved the Government’s legislative initiative on the draft law on amending the Law of the Republic of Armenia “On Military Service and the Status of Military Personnel.” The amendment will ensure proper organization of the process of granting a deferment or exemption from military service, contract-based army service and reserve training as part of the call-up campaign.

The Government submitted proposals on a number of bills. In particular, the Executive endorsed a legislative initiative on amending the RA Code of Administrative Offenses as submitted by Lusavor Hayastan parliamentary faction. The reference note says that there are many organizations and individuals offering the so-called “loan assistance,” that is, mediation services for getting loans. They are actively advertising these services in social networks and on the streets.

Banks and credit organizations have expressed their negative attitude to this process, urging the citizens to avoid using the services offered by such groups and individuals. No sanctions are envisaged under the applicable law. The amendment says that the aforementioned activity is an administrative offense and provides for appropriate sanctions for such activity.

Touching upon the problem of real interest rates, Nikol Pashinyan noted: “Together with the Central Bank, we noted the importance of improving the financial literacy of citizens. We are sure of one thing: we must implement state programs in the context of improving the financial literacy of citizens.”

Central Bank Chairman Artur Javadyan noted that numerous programs are being implemented to this end. Nikol Pashinyan urged the heads of relevant government departments to raise the citizens’ awareness of the applicable regulations and keep the emerging problems in focus.

The Government passed a decision to help increase the availability of educational loans for students. It suggests lowering the cap of interest rate to 9% from the current 12%. As a result, after being subsidized at the rate of 3% for students with high academic performance, loans will be available with a maximum interest rate of 6%. All other students will get loans at a maximum rate of 7% owing to the subsidy of 2%. In addition to undergraduates, the decision provides that the student loan program shall cover the students engaged in clinical residency.

Highlighting the decision, Nikol Pashinyan said: “We thereby raise the upper limit of loans and reduce the interest rate of student loans by three percentage points. Obviously, this is a positive change for our students.”