Ministers' Salaries Doubled by Prime Minister's Secret Directive

One of the factors contributing to the effectiveness of the governance system is decent remuneration. The low salaries of state officials have been frequently discussed, and it has been emphasized that an increase in salaries is necessary. However, the process of salary increases must be transparent and conducted through public procedures. This is reported by Hetq.am.

Significantly, the salaries of ministers, deputy ministers, and chief secretaries of ministries have been raised under a secret directive from Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The directive was issued in July.

To verify information regarding the secret directive, we first sent written inquiries to three ministries. We received data on the number of employees and the salary fund for the May-August period. In one ministry, there was a significant difference in the salary fund despite having the same number of employees.

We also sent additional inquiries to three ministers, asking them for their salary, bonuses, and other payments equivalent to the salary. For instance, the Minister of Emergency Situations, Felix Tsolakyan, received a total of 6 million dram in salary during May, June, July, and August, which was the same for the Minister of Environment, Erik Grigoryan. Dividing the salary figure by the four months gives an average monthly salary of 1.5 million dram. We also sent a similar inquiry to Finance Minister Atom Janjughazyan. However, the ministry's chief secretary did not provide information about Janjughazyan's salary, suggesting instead to wait for the annual declaration.

The salary scale for state officials is determined by law. According to the law on the remuneration of state officials, the coefficient for the minister's salary is 12. To calculate the minister's salary, this figure must be multiplied by the base salary of 66,140 dram. The total is 793,680 dram, taxes included. However, without any changes to the law, the minister's salary has been doubled by the Prime Minister's secret directive to 1.5 million dram.

A similar pattern exists for the salaries of deputy ministers and chief secretaries. By law, the salary of a deputy minister is 562,160 dram, which has been increased to 1,060,000 dram. The salary of a chief secretary has risen from 595,260 dram to 870,000 dram.

Once it was clear what had occurred, we formally asked Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan why the process was conducted secretly. We present the response from Armen Khachatryan, acting head of the Prime Minister's Information and Public Relations Department: “The issue you raised, as you mentioned, has been carried out through a secret procedure, and therefore such information is not subject to publication. We find it necessary to mention that the officials you referred to file declarations of property, income, and interests, which implies that the aforementioned process is entirely public and transparent.”