Armenia’s authorities are preparing to increase the price of their own work. The Yerevan mayor’s salary is expected to rise by approximately 58%, from AMD 1.32 million to AMD 2.08 million. Next year’s budget also allocates billions of additional drams to higher pay for government officials.
The proposed increases bring questions about public administration, public servants’ pay and the results of anti-corruption efforts back onto the agenda. Can higher salaries for officials improve the quality of their work and reduce corruption risks?
Are officials’ salaries in Armenia high or low?
Varuzhan Hoktanyan, an anti-corruption expert at the Transparency International Anticorruption Center, says the answer requires consideration of the country’s overall living standards. In his assessment, salaries in Armenia, including those in public service, are generally low. From that perspective, there is a need to increase them.
However, the expert says the issue must also be considered in a broader context. The country’s economic resources and the range of employees covered by the increases matter.
“We need to look at this more broadly. First, is the country rich or poor? Are these increases only at the top, so to speak, or do they also cover ordinary public servants in the same city administration?” Hoktanyan said. He considers this important because increases mainly benefiting senior officials could also be problematic from an anti-corruption perspective.
“There are empirical studies from different countries showing that corruption will never decline in such cases,” the expert said.
A pay rise is not enough to improve performance
According to Hoktanyan, public-sector pay policy should also take account of salaries offered by private employers. If specialists with an economics education earn more in private companies, such as banks, than in public service, they may prefer the private sector.
Hoktanyan added that a higher government salary does not necessarily provide sufficient motivation to work better.
The expert also stressed the importance of maintaining proportionate pay across different sectors. If salaries rise only for senior government officials while remaining unchanged elsewhere, this could deepen social polarisation.
“If salaries do not increase in other sectors and fields, and only senior officials in the public sector receive higher pay, this further deepens polarisation. In that respect, it will have no positive consequences,” Hoktanyan said.
👉 Law