YEREVAN, November 30. /ARKA/. The minimum monthly salary in Armenia in 2016 will remain at the level of 55,000 drams ($114) and will not increase in 2017, the Central Bank said in its quarterly Inflation Report.

At the same time, given the projected economic growth and inflation targeting policy, the median annual gross l wage is expected to grow by 3.7% in 2017, by 5% in 2018 and by about 6.2% in 2019.

The Central Bank also predicts an 18% unemployment for 2016, slightly higher than its previous forecast. It is noteworthy that the unemployment rate in 2016 will decrease compared to 2015, but not as much as expected, due to lower growth in economic activity. The Central Bank’s unemployment rate forecast for 2017 is 18.3%.

"Given the decline in productivity and the expected acceleration of economic growth in 2018 and 2019, the unemployment rate will annually decrease by approximately 0.2-0.4%", - the report says.

Earlier, the government planned to raise the minimum wage to 65,000 drams in 2017. According to official statistics, the median gross wage now is 187,000 drams ($389). -0-