Azerbaijan, Baku, May 2 / Trend, A.Akhundov /
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) will provide technical assistance to Azerbaijan on pension reforms, deputy director at IMF Middle East and Central Asia Department Nadeem Ilahi said at a press conference in Baku on Wednesday.
"With regard to pension reforms, we have held talks with the country's government which asked to send relevant experts and it is expected to provide technical assistance in this area in the coming months," Ilahi said.
At the same time, he said, the IMF is not an organisation specialising in pensions.
"However, we have great experience in pension reforms in various countries and can offer various options for choosing an appropriate strategy," Ilahi said.
As a result of reforms carried out in 2011 in the country's pension insurance system, serious steps have been taken to strengthen the social protection of labour pensioners.
This led to a 28.7 per cent increase in the average monthly amount of the labour pension and it hit 145.2 manat compared to the beginning of 2011, including a 36.4 per cent increase in the average monthly old age labour pension, which hit 160.4 manat.
As of Jan.1, 2012 the number of people receiving labour pensions was 1,277,596 million in Azerbaijan.
The official exchange rate is 0.7862 manat to $1 on May 2.