MINSK, 17 February (BelTA) – It is necessary to promptly get rid of incomprehensible organizations, structures, and bureaucrats that put a drain on the state budget in all fields. Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko made the statement on 17 February as he heard the government’s report for the year 2025, BelTA has learned.
Aleksandr Lukashenko remarked that the shortage of human resources, particularly outside the capital city and the oblast capitals, is a topical problem. Meanwhile, there are multiple public sector organizations in the country. “I am talking about hundreds of drains on the state budget practically in every government agency and ministry. Cushy jobs for retired civil servants and so on,” the president said. He stressed that he did not mean ordinary schools, hospitals, sport classes, and things like that.
“Look at the workload of the specialists tasked with calculating various benefits, scholarships, and pensions,” Aleksandr Lukashenko gave an example. “You make people bring a pile of certificates that have been available in the state systems for a long time and can be acquired on the spot with one query. About 150 organizations and over 4,000 people work for the benefit of the pension system alone. You keep crowds of pensioners in queues in order for them to hand in a hardcopy application for another recalculation. Half a million of Belarusian pensioners have a job. They don’t have time to go to your offices. Where is your vaunted digitization?”
The president gave instructions to promptly get rid of incomprehensible organizations, structures, and bureaucrats in all fields. In his words, Natalya Petkevich is the third deputy prime minister after Igor Petrishenko and Vladimir Karanik that has been slow at accomplishing the task and fails to make the decisions that can produce a tangible effect for the state budget right away.
Aleksandr Lukashenko stressed that he is ready to consider the prime minister’s proposals regarding the optimization of the system of government bodies. But it is necessary to clearly understand what it will produce from the point of view of economic growth, cost savings, and the replenishment of the state budget, the president pointed out.
For instance, the proposal to disband the Housing and Utilities Ministry and merge it with the Architecture and Construction Ministry has been put forward once again. However, the head of state doubted that the move is advisable. Particularly considering the fact that a significant number of complaints from citizens deal with problems in the housing and utilities sector while the number of personnel at the ministry is quite small, only tens of people. Disbanding the ministry will not produce a substantial effect from the point of view of cost savings.
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