BY GRISHA BALASANYAN
HETQ
Over the past five years, employees of Armenia’s eight provincial administra- tions have been paid bonuses exceeding AMD 4.3 billion (US11.4 million at today’s exchange rate). Some of them refused to tell Hetq exactly how much money high-ranking officials received as bonuses, while others urged us to examine the officials’ income declarations to be published this May. Hetq sent a written request to all ten provincial administrations, asking them to provide information on the number of employees who received bonuses in 2021-2025 and the amounts. We also asked them to specify information about the governors and their deputies. The AMD 4.368 billion mentioned above does not include bonuses for em- ployees of the provincial administrations of Vayots Dzor and Syunik. These two governors did not provide complete information on the employees who received bonuses and the bonus amounts. The governors of Armavir and Shirak did not report how many employees received bonuses. Vayots Dzor Governor Vahagn Arsenyan noted in his written response to Hetq that the funds allocated to the governor’s staff, including the bonus amounts, are reflected in the law on the state budget of Armenia for each year. “I also report that the governor, deputy governors, advisors and assistants are declarant officials,” Governor Arsenyan’s response states. He, in fact, avoided providing information. The information provided by the Secretary General of the Syunik Governor’s Office is not complete and dependable. In his response, he noted, for example, that in 2025, all employees of the provincial administration were awarded AMD 115,444, in 2024, AMD 132,759 drams, etc. There is no information on how many employees were awarded annu- ally or how much money was allocated for this purpose. Were department heads, technical workers, and the regional governor paid the same amount? In response to the question about the bonuses received by the provincial gov- ernor and his deputies for the year, reference was made to their financial dis- closures that are compulsory. These disclosures, published once a year, do not separate salaries from bonuses. It should be noted that both the governor and the deputies submit annual dec- larations during their term of office by May 31 of the year following the given year. That is, the declarations for 2025 will be submitted by May 31, 2026, which means that it is theoretically impossible to obtain information on bonuses before that. The Armavir and Shirak administrations also did not report how many em- ployees received bonuses annually, therefore it is not possible to average the data. Of note is that compared to 2024, the total amount of bonuses in 2025 was re- duced only in Gegharkunik, Aragatzotn, Lori, and Kotayk (we are talking about eight provinces, excluding Syunik and Vayots Dzor). In Gegharkunik, the total amount of bonuses in 2024 was some AMD 180 million drams for 106 employ- ees, while in 2025, 102 employees received AMD 139 million. The total amount of bonuses in the provincial administrations of Ararat, Ar- mavir, Tavush, and Shirak has increased. For example, in 2024, Armavir em- ployees received AMD 43.527 million in bonuses, rising to 104 million in 2025. In Shirak, they received AMD 92.476 million in 2024, and 104 million in 2025, Referring to the six provincial administrations that provided complete infor- mation on bonus payments, let us note that in 2025. employees of the Tavush provincial administration were awarded the largest amount of bonus – an average of AMD 1.399 million. Aragatzotn and Gegharkunik provincial administration staffers received, on average, bonuses of AMD 1.365 million and AMD 1.362 million, respectively. On average, the Ararat administration employees received the smallest bonuses – AMD 817,000. The data presented does not mean that all provincial administration employ- ees received the same bonus payments. Those holding high positions were re- warded more, which is why, based on the average data of the total number of employees, the amount per person increases. For example, in 2025, the governor of Kotayk and his two deputies received a total of some AMD 25,407 million in bonuses, and the administration’s eighty- one employees together received AMD 77.661 million. It turns out that the gov- ernor and his deputies received an average of AMD 8.469 million in bonuses, and each employee received AMD 958,000. Compared to 2024, the bonuses of Kotayk Governor Aharon Sahakyan and his two deputies increased sharply, while those of the employees decreased. In 2024, the governor and his deputies received AMD 18 million in bonuses, and the eighty-four employees received 134 million drams. Of the six provinces, the largest number of employees awarded bonuses was in Gegharkunik – 639 people in five years, followed by the Lori – 577 people. The smallest number of employees awarded was in Tavush – 366. The public in Armenia remains ill-informed as to why government staffers are awarded these bonuses. PS: Kotayk Provincial Governor Aharon Sahakyan is missing from the top photo since he is the only governor who provided complete information.