YEREVAN (Arka) — Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan told a government session today that the government had released 120 billion drams to handle the martial law, announced last autumn after the Azerbaijani offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh.
He specified that 52 billion drams of that amount were donations raised by the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund. Pashinyan said allegations that the Haystan Fund donations were spent on payment of bonuses to government officials and on other expenses were not true.
“I would like to draw attention to the fact that the government allocated 120 billion drams due to martial law, of which only 52 billion drams from the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund; that is, less than 50% of the amount,” Pashinyan said.
The prime minister also noted that from 1992 to September 2020 the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund had raised in donations a total of $247 million for implementation of projects in Armenia and Artsakh, while during the 44-day war alone, the Fund raised $212 million, almost 70% of the amount raised over the previous 28 years.
He said also that the Fund will allocate 110 billion drams within three years to finance the construction of infrastructure and housing in Artsakh, which is more than the cost of the similar projects implemented by the Fund in previous years.
The Armenian government also approved today the signing of a financial agreement with Artsakh. Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Mesrop Arakelyan said that under the agreement Armenia will be annually providing Artsakh with 10 billion dram assistance for 10 years for overcoming the consequences of the war.
He specified that the money will be used to compensate for the damage caused by the war to legal entities and individuals who lost buildings, housing, cars and trucks, agricultural and construction equipment, fixed assets used for running businesses, livestock, apiaries, fruit and grapes gardens.($1 – 522.21 drams).
