ArmInfo. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan attributed the payment of large bonuses in public administration primarily to the introduction of a new performance-based salary system. He announced this during a briefing on January 15, answering journalists' questions.
The Prime Minister emphasized that this newly introduced system pursues the sole goal of increasing the effectiveness of the government and its programs and eliminating the risk of corruption and the tolerance for it. In this regard, Pashinyan noted that corruption risks in Armenia could increase significantly, given the changing investment environment and the expected influx of investment.
Furthermore, according to the Prime Minister, such bonuses could long-term enhance the competitiveness of public sector employment, given the outflow of high-quality personnel from the public sector to the private sector. At the same time, the head of government noted that such incentives will help civil servants protect their rights in court amid the spread of disinformation.
Listing the following reasons, Pashinyan also noted that, according to the adopted strategy, which assumes that education will become a way of life, a significant portion of government officials' salaries should be allocated to enhancing their professional competencies. Prior to the implementation of the new system, the possibility of allocating targeted funds from the state budget was considered.
"The most important thing is that as a result of all this, the work of the state system will become and continues to become more efficient," the head of government noted, affirming that this was the right decision.
Regarding himself, the prime minister stated that, in accordance with the implemented system and the adopted decision, he received a salary supplement of 1.5 million drams per month. In this vein, Pashinyan noted that all income and expenses of civil servants are transparent and public, as they are subject to declaration. It should be noted that the day before, the research website Hetq reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received approximately 11.9 million drams in bonuses based on his performance assessment for the first half of 2025. In addition, approximately 1.9 million drams were paid to him as a separate line item as incentives. This information was obtained based on a written request to the government regarding bonuses received by the Prime Minister's Office, the Prime Minister himself, and his deputy prime ministers from 2021 to 2025. According to the source, the Prime Minister and two deputy prime ministers received a total of 2.8 billion drams in incentives and bonuses from 2021 to 2025.
