Armenian President, Ministers, and MPs to Get a Raise

Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan is going to get a raise: he will be paid 900,000 AMD (about $2,220 USD) per month instead of the current 400,000 AMD (about $987), Chair of the parliamentary Standing Committee on Social Affairs Hakob Hakobyan informed a correspondent with the local daily Haykakan Zhamanak.

Ministers and MPs' salaries will also go up, reaching 600,000 AMD (about $1,480).

According to a state budget bill presented in parliament, the systematic increase in salaries is expected to begin from Jul. 1, 2014. Meanwhile, RA Prime Minister Tigran Sargsyan earlier had said salary increases in all sectors is expected on Jan. 1, 2014, and Serzh Sargsysan at a meeting with the RA Ministry of Education and Science in August likewise promised that salaries would go up from Jan. 1. 

Asked by the Haykakan Zhamanak correspondent why the authorities were deceiving the public, Hakobyan said: "This is not deceiving. This is accurately assessing the available options. If we wanted to deceive, we would have deceived; we know the way to deceive. But to tell the bitter truth, that we don't have the money, is a fact; that is our bitter truth."