Salaries in the social sphere can be raised thanks to extra-budgetary services

Salaries in the social sphere can be raised by encouraging the development of extra-budgetary services, BelTA learned from Deputy Prime Minister of Belarus Vasily Zharko on 3 March.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko held a government conference on 2 March to hear out performance reports from the central government, the central bank, the oblast administrations, and the Minsk city administration. The head of state gave instructions to raise salaries for social sphere and cultural sphere workers. “The government understands that salaries should be raised for teachers, cultural workers, and social service workers. It can be done through wise optimization in these areas without a detriment to the services themselves. It is necessary to develop extra-budgetary services. For instance, the social sphere earned Br1.5 billion from such services last year. This year we expect higher revenues, which represent another source for higher salaries in the social sphere,” said Vasily Zharko.

During the government conference Alexander Lukashenko described rising prices as the number one problem for the nation. “We cannot allow prices to grow. Salaries are growing very little for now, this is why we should not complain about inflation. This is why the president reasonably demanded to slow down the price growth,” stressed the deputy prime minister.

Speaking about healthcare, Vasily Zharko noted that they had not registered an increase in prices for medications this year. Prices for medical services also remain stable. “Everything affecting our citizens should be substantiated and [prices should rise] taking into account growing salaries,” noted Vasily Zharko.

The official also noted that the work to create jobs will continue but the focus will shift onto high-technology industries.