Armenia’s Cabinet extends Karabakh aid, halves one payment from April

Armenia’s Cabinet extended two assistance programs for people displaced from Karabakh on October 29, 2026, keeping support into 2027 but halving one monthly payment from April, Armenpress said.

Both programs had been due to end in December 2026. The government’s draft justification says the beneficiary groups and families still need assistance because they remain in difficult social and economic circumstances.

Payments and who qualifies

The specified-groups program covers displaced people in these categories:

• People with Group 1 or Group 2 disabilities, or profound or severe functional limitations.
• People aged 63 or older.
• People receiving benefits or pensions following the loss of a breadwinner.
• Students aged 18 or older attending general education, preliminary vocational or craft-training institutions, or secondary vocational institutions.
• Children under 18.

Emergency family assistance requires monthly income below AMD 55,000 per family member. That figure is calculated by dividing the family’s total monthly income by its number of members.

Armenpress describes the family payment as “40,000 plus 10,000 drams.” The official social-benefits rules specify the first-member and additional-member calculation shown above.

Displaced people can also receive assistance through other existing programs if they meet those programs' eligibility requirements.

How the assistance changed

Housing and utility assistance began in 2023 after Azerbaijan’s attack drove people from Karabakh to Armenia, Armenia Today said in its October 28, 2026 report on the proposed extension. The initial payment was AMD 50,000 per person a month.

The official social-benefits rules date the specified-groups program’s payment period to April 2025 and emergency family assistance to June 2025. Before the extension, the specified-groups payment was AMD 30,000 a month.

Armenia Today said the draft justification described the planned reduction as intended to encourage beneficiaries' social and economic self-reliance.

What follows in 2027

In its October 28 report on the draft, Armenia Today said the government expected emergency-assistance demand to reach about 9,500 families in the second half of 2027 after specified-groups support ends. The government planned about AMD 12.6 billion in state spending on the two programs for 2027.

The same report said the draft proposed keeping applications for emergency family assistance open through December 15, 2027.