No logic in officials` decent salary, while citizens deprived of it

ArmInfo.  For two days now, the National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia has been making  statements about a more than significant increase in government  officials' salaries and property. This was stated in parliament on  August 4 by Irina Yolyan, a member of the NA from the opposition  "Strong Armenia" bloc.

According to her, government officials tirelessly trumpet the  development of democracy, accountability, and so on in the country.  They constantly claim that power in the country belongs to the  people, but this raises the question of how the well-being of the  highest echelons of power, their families, and loved ones is  improving, while the socioeconomic situation of citizens is  constantly deteriorating. Since 2023, there has been no progress on  raising the minimum wage. Moreover, there has been an unprecedented  rise in food prices. For some goods, the increase was 40%, but for  others, prices have jumped as much as 60%. 

"This raises the question of how our citizens are addressing these  problems. In the Syunik region alone, 870 families were deprived of  benefits. Now this program will be expanded to the entire republic,  resulting in thousands of families being deprived of benefits by the  current government," the MP said, adding that receiving benefits  should not be a desirable status for citizens. It merely serves as  evidence that the poverty rate in the country is quite high. Yolyan  noted that one cannot follow the logic that a worthy official should  receive a decent salary, while a worthy citizen should be deprived of  this opportunity. In a situation where there are no jobs, citizens  are forced to take out loans to solve vital issues. It's worth noting  that the Armenian National Assembly is currently debating the  candidacy of Hayk Konjoryan, a candidate for the position of Vice  Speaker of Parliament, for the second day. The main topic raised  during the session was the high salary of Konjoryan's wife as the  head of HayPost CJSC, which amounts to 3.6 million drams. 

This is despite the fact that the average salary of the company's  1,200 employees does not exceed 80,000 drams. Opposition MPs were  interested in how, before the CJSC was returned to state ownership,  HayPost's profit in 2023 amounted to 125 million drams, while in  2024, after the company's return to state ownership, losses of 1.2  billion drams were recorded, and 520 million drams in 2025. The  losses were covered by the state budget, that is, by ordinary  taxpayers.