AR Parliamentary Staff Receive '13th Salary', MPs Will Not Get It: Clarification

The Public Relations and Communication Department of the National Assembly has issued a clarification regarding the bonuses received by the staff of the National Assembly. The statement reads:

‘With the New Year approaching, employees of the National Assembly have been compensated with what is commonly referred to as the '13th salary', a practice that has been accepted for years in both public and private sectors. Employees always take into account the availability of these financial resources when planning their family budgets.

We would like to emphasize specifically that the President of the National Assembly has made the decision not to allocate the 13th salary to the deputies. The corresponding order was signed by the Speaker of the National Assembly on December 14, and is subject to publication within two days.

Taking this opportunity, we also inform you that during 2020, the staff of the National Assembly has already managed to save approximately 845 million AMD from bonuses and various other budget items, which have been directed to address issues arising from the pandemic and the war. Our goal is to bring the total savings directed to the state budget to at least 1.2 billion AMD by the end of the year, which constitutes 20 percent of the annual budget of the National Assembly.’