Millions of Dollars Paid in Bonuses to Armenia’s Provincial Governors and Staffers

Photo by Nare Petrosyan

By Grisha Balasanyan

HETQ.am

Over the past five years, employees of Armenia’s eight provincial administrations have been paid bonuses exceeding $11.7 million. 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 $11.7 million mentioned above does not include bonuses for employees 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 $313, in 2024, $361, etc. There is no information on how many employees were awarded annually 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 governor and his deputies for the year, reference was made to their financial disclosures that are compulsory. These disclosures, published once a year, do not separate salaries from bonuses.

Both the governor and the deputies submit annual declarations 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 employees received bonuses annually, therefore it is not possible to average the data.

Compared to 2024, the total amount of bonuses in 2025 was reduced 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 $490,000 for 106 employees, while in 2025, 102 employees received $378,000.

The total amount of bonuses in the provincial administrations of Ararat, Armavir, Tavush, and Shirak has increased. For example, in 2024, Armavir employees received $118,000 in bonuses, rising to $283,000 in 2025. In Shirak, they received $251,000 in 2024, and $283,000.

Referring to the six provincial administrations that provided complete information on bonus payments, in 2025. employees of the Tavush provincial administration were awarded the largest amount of bonus – an average of $3,801. Aragatzotn and Gegharkunik provincial administration staffers received, on average, bonuses of $3,709, and $3,701, respectively. On average, the Ararat administration employees received the smallest bonuses – $2,220.

The data presented does not mean that all provincial administration employees 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 $69,041 in bonuses, and the administration’s eighty one employees together received $211,000. It turns out that the governor and his deputies received an average of $23,014 in bonuses, and each employee received $2,603.

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 $48,913 in bonuses, and the eighty four employees received $364,130.

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 uninformed as to why government staffers are awarded these considerable bonuses. For what result?

PS: Kotayk Provincial Governor Aharon Sahakyan is missing from the top photo since he is the only governor who provided complete information.