MINSK, 19 May (BelTA) - The goal for the current year is to bring the average retirement pension to 40% of the average wage in Belarus, Deputy Prime Minister Igor Petrishenko said at a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of the seventh convocation on 19 May, BelTA has learned.
“Every fourth resident of our country is a recipient of pension payments. Expenses of the Social Security Fund for these purposes exceeded Br13.3 billion in 2020, which is more than 9% of the country's GDP. Labor pensions were revised upward twice last year. The growth of pensions outweighs inflation. In 2020, pensions rose by 9.7%, and by almost 4% in real terms. The task for this year is to maintain the real growth of pension payments and to bring the level of the average retirement pension up to 40% of the country's average wage,” Igor Petrishenko said.
According to the deputy prime minister, everyone currently working should understand their personal responsibility for their welfare in old age - the area of responsibility of the state and the employee. “In accordance with the instruction of the head of state, we are working on a program to develop voluntary funded pensions, enabling every working person to guarantee an increase to his/her future pension. We are working on the necessary legislation today,” he stressed.
In order to prevent the growth of poverty, mechanisms of targeted support are used to help those in need within the system of state targeted social assistance. “In 2020 more than 305,000 people received such assistance. In Q1 2021, over 85,000 Belarusians were recipients of such payments. More than Br120 million are envisaged in the local budgets for these purposes this year,” Igor Petrishenko added.
Photos by Andrei Pokumeiko
