ArmInfo. While there are regions in Armenia where every second person lives below the poverty line, struggling to survive on 50,000 drams (about $150) per month, facing problems even with clothing, the country's leadership, which promised to live modestly, receives bonuses amounting to billions of drams. Narek Karapetyan, coordinator of the "Our Way" movement, wrote this on his Facebook page, responding to a publication by the investigative website Hetq, according to which prime ministers and deputy prime ministers received bonuses of 51.6 million drams (over $135,000) in 2025.
"We learned why Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan secretly paid himself, his ministers, and members of parliament billions of drams in bonuses. He claims that if these bonuses hadn't been paid, these people could have been involved in corruption in the future, when large investments come into our country. That's why he's handing out bonuses to himself and his closest allies," the movement's coordinator stated in a video statement.
He noted that this approach is consumerist, not constructive. Karapetyan emphasized that a constructive government shouldn't pay attention to such things: "If we win, the country's new prime minister will not only receive no bonuses, but will also receive a salary of one dram," he concluded.
Earlier, ArmInfo, citing journalist Lia Sargsyan, reported that the news outlet Ishkhanutyun had discovered a "top-secret" document signed by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, according to which approximately 3 billion drams (approximately $7.9 million) were distributed from the state budget's bonus fund as compensation to pro-government officials during the pre-New Year period, not including the so-called 13th salary. Meanwhile, the investigative outlet Hetq reported that Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan received approximately 11.9 million drams (over $31,000) in bonuses based on his performance evaluation for the first half of 2025. Additionally, approximately 1.9 million drams ($5,000) was paid to him as a separate bonus.
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 the Deputy Prime Ministers from 2021 to 2025. According to the source, from 2021 to 2025, the Prime Minister and two Deputy Prime Ministers received a total of 2.8mln drams (over $7,000) in incentives and bonuses.
Meanwhile, in a conversation with journalists on January 15, Pashinyan himself did not deny receiving high bonuses, assuring that they were due to the implementation of a new performance-based remuneration system. The Prime Minister emphasized that this newly introduced system has the sole purpose of increasing the effectiveness of the government and its programs and reducing corruption and tolerance for it to zero. Pashinyan noted that corruption risks in Armenia could increase significantly, given the changing investment environment and the expected influx of investment. He stated that his monthly salary increased by 1.5 million drams.
