The minimum old-age pension in Belarus will increase from August 1 to Br244,100

July 29, Minsk / Katerina Nechaeva - BELTA /. In Belarus, the minimum old-age pension will increase from August 1 to Br244,100. This was announced today to journalists by Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Protection of Belarus Valentina Koroleva, BELTA correspondent reports. The maximum pension (for unemployed miners) will be Br1,337,000. The first pension payments in the increased amount will be made on August 1, and in some regions, for example, in Minsk, on July 31, as August 1 falls on a weekend. Valentina Koroleva recalled that from August, all types of labor pensions will be increased in Belarus, as stipulated by Decree No. 371 of July 21. "The actual earnings of pensioners will be adjusted when assigning and recalculating pensions using the average wage of employees in Belarus for the second quarter of the current year. According to Belstat, it amounted to Br1,169,684. Based on this wage, the earnings of each pensioner will be "modernized," the deputy minister said, clarifying that the pension will be recalculated individually for each pensioner. At the same time, its average size will increase by 12.5%, while the minimum pension will increase by approximately 10%, and the maximum by 13%. The specialist also noted that from August, minimum labor and social pensions will be recalculated due to the increase in the subsistence minimum budget. "This indicator is recalculated quarterly at the prices of the last month of the quarter. According to preliminary estimates, the subsistence minimum budget per capita in June prices will be Br274,510. Based on this value, minimum and social pensions will be revised," Valentina Koroleva explained. According to her, the minimum pension is 25% of the subsistence minimum budget. Thus, the minimum old-age pension, as a calculation indicator, will be Br68,628 from August. The increase in labor pensions will affect 2.4 million pensioners, and another 52,000 people will have their social pensions indexed. To increase these payments from August, an additional Br146.8 billion per month will be required, and by the end of the year, this amount will exceed Br734 billion. Thus, pension payments in Belarus from August will amount to Br1,323 billion per month. Valentina Koroleva emphasized that the proposal to increase pensions "was due to a sufficient reserve of funds in the Social Protection Fund." "We are not concerned about the prospects of pension payments. Moreover, the debt on insurance pension contributions for the first half of the year has significantly decreased - by Br10 billion," she said. The deputy minister also recalled that pensions in Belarus are being increased for the second time this year. The first increase was in January - by an average of 9%. For the first half of the year, the average old-age pension increased by more than 20% compared to the same period in 2009 and amounted to Br491,600 in June. The average minimum old-age pension increased by 16.2%, amounting to Br268,100 in June. The real amount of the assigned monthly pension (adjusted for the consumer price index for goods and services) in June 2010 increased by 12.4% compared to June 2009. According to Valentina Koroleva, Belarus will fulfill the socio-economic development forecast indicators for 2010 related to pension provision. -0-