YEREVAN, February 26. / ARKA /. Armenia’s Central Bank predicts a 13 percent rise in average monthly salary in 2014, double of its forecast for 2013.

The bank said the rise will result from the planned increase in the minimum wage from 45,000 to 50,000 drams in the third quarter and a substantial wage increases for public sector employees.

"The increase in public wages will lead to some increase in private sector wages because of competition between the two sectors. The increase in private sector wages will bring about a weak inflationary pressure of 0.2 percentage points to the consumer market in the second half," the regulator says in a report.

The Central Bank said also it expects the unemployment level to remain virtually unchanged despite expected economic growth. The unemployment rate will average 14.9%, by 0.9 percentage point down from the previous year. The unemployment will continue to drop slowly as the economic growth will continue, it said.

According to the National Statistical Service, the average gross salary in Armenia in 2013 was about 160,000 drams. The average monthly salary in public sector was approximately 141,800 drams, and in the private sector it was about 186,000 drams. ($ 1 - 412.73 drams). -0-