During the last five years, the employees of the regional administrations of Armenia received more than 4.3 billion drams as bonuses. However, the distribution of these huge state funds is accompanied by serious problems of transparency. some governors avoid disclosing the actual incomes of their management staff, citing tax returns, and available statistics reveal a huge financial gap between the incentives of high-ranking officials and rank-and-file employees.
According to the inquiries of “Hetk” periodical, the leadership of Syunik and Vayots Dzor, out of the ten marzes of the country, actually refused to provide complete information regarding the 2021-2025 bonus payments. Vayots Dzor Marz Governor Vahagn Arsenyan and Syunik Marzpetaran explained that the incomes of high-ranking persons are reflected in their annual declarations.
However, this argument has a purely formal nature, because in the official documents, the data of which 2025 will be published only at the end of May 2026, the basic salary and bonuses are not separated. In addition, Armavir and Shirak governorates hid the exact number of awarded employees, which makes it impossible to calculate the average indicators of the departments.
The dynamics of payments by regions creates a contradictory picture. In 2025, the total fund of awards decreased in Gegharkunik, Aragatsotn, Lori and Kotayk, but increased noticeably in Ararat, Armavir, Tavush and Shirak. At the same time, the averaged figures hide the deep disparity within the marzpets themselves. A clear example is the situation in the Kotayk region, where in 2025 the governor of the region Aharon Sahakyan and his two deputies received a total of more than 25 million drams in bonuses, while 81 rank-and-file employees received about 77 million drams together.
As a result, the management received an average of almost 8.5 million drams, while ordinary employees received less than one million. It is noteworthy that, compared to 2024, the bonuses of the heads of the Kotayk regional administration have increased sharply against the background of a tangible reduction of the remuneration fund of subordinates.
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