YEREVAN, February 20. /ARKA/. The assets of Armenia’s funded pension system, placed in two private pension funds, doubled last year from 2015 to 63.3 billion drams, according to the Central Bank of Armenia. Some 43.3% or 27.4 billion drams are said to have been placed in bonds, including 24.7 billion drams in government bonds and 4.1 billion drams in other bonds.

Some 17.3 billion drams or 27.4% of total pension fund assets were placed in equity securities. At the same time 26.8% or 17 billion drams were cash and deposits. Other assets of the pension system in 2016 stood at 182.8 million drams.

The yield on assets kept at the so-called conservative funds amounted to 25, 05% (1 share price was 1,251 drams); the yield of assets kept at the weighted funds was 26.51% (1 share price was 1,265 drams) and the yield on assets at the stable income funds was 28.75% (the price of one share was 1,288 drams).

Armenia's new pension system took force on January 1, 2014 but was suspended shortly afterwards after being found contradicting to the Constitution. It required that all Armenian citizens born after 1973 pay social security taxes equivalent to 5 percent of their monthly wages, which is to be matched and doubled by the government.

Due to a series of protests, on January 24, 2014 Armenia’s Constitutional Court suspended Article 76 of the pension law, which provided for penalties for failed or delayed pension tax payments, and the third paragraph of Article 86, which obligated employed citizens to choose a pension fund.

On April 2, the Constitutional Court ruled that some provisions of the new pension law were contradicting to the Constitution and voided them instructing the government to make changes. Eventually the government made it mandatory for public sector employees only. The law will become mandatory for private sector too from July 2018.

Armenian pension funds are managed by C-QUADRAT Ampega Asset Management Armenia and AMUNDI-ACBA ASSET MANAGEMENT. ($ 1 - 486.74 drams). -0-