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Aliaksandr Yarashuk: Power Is To Be Changed In Order To Have Normal Life In Country

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Aliaksandr Yarashuk: Power Is To Be Changed In Order To Have Normal Life In Country
ALIAKSANDR YARASHUK
PHOTO FROM VALERY-BREST-BY.LIVEJOURNAL.COM

Radical changes in social policy will only be possible with the change of power.

The IMF advises the Belarusian authorities to increase the retirement age up to 65 years for men and women. Although on 11 April, 2016, Lukashenka signed the decree № 137 “On improving the pension provision.”

Starting with January 1, 2017, the retirement age will be gradually increased (for 6 months each year) up to 63 years for men, and 58 years for women. The age of eligibility for preferential retirement pensions and retirement pensions, the age limit for military servicemen are awaiting a similar increase (for 3 years within the space of 6 years).

Will the power increase the retirement age again? Leader of the Belarusian Congress of Democratic Trade Unions Aliaksandr Yarashuk answered belprauda.org’s questions:

– Is the increase of the retirement age up to 65 years only an IMF’s wish, or is it something inevitable in the Belarusian lay of the land?

– The IMF is often presented in the form of a certain monster, cooperation with which promises nothing good, and the advice of which the country shouldn’t listen to. And that is, of course, not true. And in this case, the IMF’s proposal to increase the retirement age up to 65 by 2023 is an inevitable thing, caused by the Belarusian realias, and the main one among them is the problem of demography.

– What consequences does the raising of the retirement age fraught with, taking into consideration the current length of life in Belarus?

– The problem just lies in the fact that the authorities have to take the decision on increasing the retirement age against the backdrop of the country citizens’ low life expectancy, especially of men. But this cost emerged due to this power – for more than twenty years it have had enough time to solve the problems and to increase substantially the quality of Belarusians’ life, the consequence of which could be a further increase of the citizens’ life expectancy by 3-4 years. We can observe today such a gap on this indicator with neighboring Poland and Lithuania, although in the early 90's we had the same ratio with them.

– What additional reforms can the Belarusian authorities hold to maintain the pension system balance after 2023, when the annual reduction of the pension system budget by 0.15% of GDP is planned?

– The point at issue is the same – it is necessary to conduct a full-scale pension reform, not only to increase the retirement age up to 65 by 2023 and to increase the term, required for getting a pension, from 5 to 20 years. Together with the solidarity pension system, we should make decisions without delay to enable the development of financial defined contributions for working people. And what is the most important, and it has been noted not once – the pension reform should be an organic and integral part of fundamental reforms in the country's economy, which the authorities do not want to make. As, if there is no economic liberalization, there will be no economic reforms, the country's uncompetitive economy will not allow working Belarusians to receive a salary higher than 200 – $ 250 and expect a pension higher than 100 – $ 150. Such an income level is beggarly, when reasoning about the pension reform and raising the retirement age in the country loses its meaning.

– What can make the power turn the tide?

– To make this happen, the government should abandon its populism. But the Belarusian power is a child of populism, and rejecting it would be like signing its own death-warrant. Therefore, the authorities today express neither the desire, nor the ability to change radically its policy as a whole, and its social component in particular. Radical changes in social policy will become possible only with the change of power in the country.

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