The annual spending on Armenia’s police will be increased by more than 2 billion drams, according to a decision approved by the government on Friday.

The major part of the sum, 1 billion 980 million drams, will be used to pay police officers’ salaries and bonuses, while 215,100,000 drams will be used to provide meals to the external police service staff outside the canteen (3 times a day at a competitive price of 2,970 drams).

The draft decision published on the government website says the increase in the police budget is attributed to higher salaries for employees of the newly established patrol service in Yerevan, Shirak and Lori Provinces.

"The allocated funds, due to the current headcount, are not enough to maintain the nominal wages formed in 2019-2021 based on individual positions. An otherwise equitable situation would result in a decrease in annual nominal salaries. In order to avoid it, it is suggested to allocate additional 1.980.0 million drams," the draft decision says.