The government most recently raised it by 23 percent, to 68,000 drams per month, two years ago. Critics are increasingly calling for further increases in the minimum wage, pensions and public sector salaries, arguing that the prices of key goods have risen significantly this year.
The government’s Statistical Committee reported that consumer price inflation in Armenia reached 9.1 percent in October. It was primarily pushed up by a 16 percent surge in food prices which hit low-income households particularly hard.
Speaking in the Armenian parliament, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ruben Sargsian said the government is planning to gradually bring the minimum wage to 86,000 drams by 2026. But he said it will “take the first steps” in that direction in 2023.
According to the Statistical Committee, the country’s median monthly wage stood at almost 199,000 drams ($417) in September, up by 6.3 percent year on year.
The government’s draft state budget for next year calls for a 15 percent rise in public spending but does not envisage major pay rises for public sector employees. The government could only hike the wages of high-ranking state officials in 2022.
The Armenian Ministry of Justice proposed earlier this week that it nearly double the salaries of Prosecutor-General Artur Davtian and his deputies. They would make about 2 million drams ($4,200) and 1.5 million drams a month respectively as a result.
The ministry said the much higher wages would help to neutralize “pressures” that could be exerted on the top prosecutors during corruption investigations.
Zhanna Aleksanian, a human rights activist, brushed aside the explanation. “Who doesn’t know that the prosecutor’s office is a corrupt system?” she charged.
Aleksanian said that the proposed measure, which needs to be approved by Prime Minister Nikol Pashinian and his cabinet, is also unfair given the scale of poverty and other socioeconomic problems in the country.