“What they need, what they want, and a mechanism of checks and balances is done

This week it became known that the Government will distribute bonuses of 5 billion drams to the officials of the state system for the first half of 2026, the draft decision was on the agenda of the last session of the executive, in the package of non-reportable issues.

Billion dram bonuses are not new for Pashinyan and his team. a similar action was held for officials at the end of last year, and there was even an official who could not remember whether he had received 6 or 7 million drams as a reward.

From next year’s declarations, it will become clear how much reward the employees of the state system received this time, including those who promised in 2018 that they would come to serve the people.

In the conditions of the economic situation of our country, when according to the official indicators of 2025, poverty reaches 22 percent and the national debt reaches 13.9 billion US dollars, how objective is such extravagance, and is there a risk of corruption in this decision: 168.amwas interested from economist Tatul Manaseryan։

“I think there is no need to look for any logic there, because currently neither the laws are working nor the government’s plan is being implemented (the previous one: the new one is not yet available), the articles provided for in the budget are being changed without the approval of the National Assembly. It refers to the expenses that were changed, replaced, such as, for example, the increase of pensions instead of benefits, etc.

Under these circumstances, you would expect there to be some justification? they do what they need, what they want, and there is no balance mechanism, in fact,” the economist said in response.

According to him, although in the conditions of the current economic realities, when factories are closed, workplaces are closed, property rights are not inviolable, the people are the victims, nevertheless, the role of the opposition should also be taken into account.

“But the problem is that we never had an opposition that could be a counterbalance. The counterweight in any country is the opposition, which at any moment first shows the mistakes and omissions of the government, and then presents an alternative. And for the most part, the opposition has not presented an alternative, apart from direct criticism, and the people are somewhat disappointed in this regard as well,” added Tatul Manaseryan.

—