Stele was an integral part of the CP members’ power. But lying also has a limit.

The other day, Economy Minister Gevorg Papoyan was talking about last year’s salary increases, making discoveries, publishing figures unknown to official statistics, saying that we see how the average salary in Armenia is constantly increasing.

“For the first time, in December, we had an average salary of 400,000 drams, taxes included, of course.

I look at all this not with the pre-election and electoral logic, but as the economic development of our country,” the Minister of Economy insisted.

Let’s leave aside how well this statement of Gevorg Papoyan fits into the pre-election or election logic, let’s look at the figure he gave about the average salary.

But before that, let’s note that a few days ago, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs made such a statement.

“2025 in December, the average salary in Armenia was 401 thousand drams.

Moreover, in November of the same year, that indicator was 327 thousand drams,” Arsen Torosyan advertised their recorded salary increases during the meeting with the CP faction, probably excited by their own salary gains.

Gevorg Papoyan and Arsen Torosyan are the ministers of this government who are directly related to salaries and hardly knew what the average salary in Armenia was in December. They probably knew, but they lied or gave false numbers, exaggerating the salary indicators.

The data published by the official statistics show that the average salary in Armenia in December last year was 400 thousand drams, moreover, it was not more than that.

According to official data, the average salary was much lower in December. It amounted to 376.7 thousand drams, 23.3 thousand drams less than 400 thousand.

But as we can see, this did not prevent Gevorg Papoyan, who holds the position of Minister of Economy, and Arsen Torosyan, who holds the position of Minister of Social Affairs, to talk about the average salary of 400 thousand or more than 400 thousand. Moreover, to try to create the impression that salaries are growing at a high rate.

Arsen Torosyan says that in November the average salary was 327 thousand drams, in December it became 401 thousand drams.

If Arsen Torosyan and the other officials had given them, let’s say, 17-18 million bonuses in December instead of 7-8 million, the difference would definitely be bigger. But the ministers who received millions of bonuses naturally avoid talking about it. Isn’t it clear that they won’t say that they were given millions in bonuses, that’s why average salary indicators jumped in December? But with that, they did not reach 400 thousand, as they try to present.

The average salary, after the widespread payment of bonuses in December, was much lower than intentionally, perhaps also unknowingly, these people declare. And what we see already in January of this year reveals the secret of salary growth.

In January of this year, compared to the previous month, the average salary in Armenia decreased significantly. If in December last year it was 376.7 thousand drams, in January of this year it was 293.3 thousand drams.

It decreased at once by 83.4 thousand drams or by more than 22 percent.

When we subtract the unseen high bonuses and bonuses distributed to government officials at the end of the year, we see what remains below the average salary. It is still not the real salary, it is the nominal salary, that is, before taxation.

If taxes are deducted, the real average salary is much lower. In January of this year, it was only 217 thousand drams.

This is despite the fact that the average salary in some sectors reaches 900 thousand, sometimes up to 1 million drams, which means that the salaries of hundreds of thousands of citizens in many other sectors are even much lower than the average. There are many people who receive the minimum wage, sometimes even lower.

Last year, the average salary in Armenia increased by 15.9 thousand drams. The growth is not high, only 5.5 percent, but it was also due to higher than average increases in several areas. Let’s say that the average salary in the mining industry increased by 53.5 thousand drams last year, almost 3.4 times more than the average salary.

The average salary increase in the financial system exceeded 50.6 thousand. The rate of growth is almost 3.2 times more than the average salary.

Instead, wages in many sectors of the economy have been much more modestly increased, and sometimes even decreased. And this means that there are no tangible changes in the lives of the citizens included in these groups from the high economic growth that they try to present as a world-viewing event or a world-level achievement. Not counting the fact that they are affected by inflation, increases in taxes and fees for individuals.

Imagine, in January of this year, compared to the same month last year, the average salary in Armenia increased by only 5.4 percent. At the same time, food inflation was 5.9 percent, 0.5 percentage points higher than average wage growth. It is obvious that only due to inflation, there has been a decline in the purchasing power of the society and deepening of poverty.

HAKOB KOCHARYAN

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