The bill on the remuneration of persons holding public positions in Armenia and on making amendments and additions to related laws has been approved. The decision to that effect was made at Thursday’s Cabinet session of the Armenian government.

Deputy Prime Minister Tigran Khachatryan explained that if this bill is passed, an additional 25 billion drams (more than $68.5 million) will be allocated from the Armenian state budget annually for the implementation of the planned measures. According to him, these changes are expected to come into force on January 1, 2027.

Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Davit Khudatyan, in turn, clarified that the changes imply a two- to three-fold increase in the salaries of employees of local self-government bodies—as the monthly salaries of community leaders will reach at least 700,000 drams. The salaries of ministers will also double, reaching almost 2 million drams.

According to the bill, the monthly salary of the president of Armenia will increase to 2.6 million drams, that of deputy prime ministers to 2.1 million, that of the Human Rights Defender and Prosecutor General to 1.8 million drams, that of the National Assembly speaker and the Constitutional Court chief judge to 2.4 million drams, and that of MPs to 1.4 million drams.

For his part, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan—whose current monthly salary is 1,498,000 drams, but it will increase by almost 80 if the aforesaid bill is passed—said that the amount of Armenian officials’ remuneration will depend on the effectiveness of their activities. He also recalled that the government has adopted a norm according to which Armenian officials do not had the right to accept any gifts for two years now.