Inflation "Ate" Belarusians' Pensions

The prices are increasing, but the pensions are not.

Inflation in Belarus is accelerating - the prices are rising even according to official statistics. Only the pensions are not growing. The last time they were raised was in July before the presidential elections. But the increase had little effect on the standard of living of pensioners: pensions increased by 5.7% on average, but before that they had not been raised for almost a year, and the prices had increased as much during that time, infobank.by writes.

So, the real pensions just returned to the level of last year after their July increase. And in September, after the elections, the real pensions became lower than a year ago. Which has not happened for more than 3 years: since mid-2017, only their real growth was recorded after the fall of the crisis in 2015-16 years.

And in October, the real decline in pensions continued: the prices went up, while pensions remained at the same level. Although the fall is small so far - only 0.2% (compared to last October). Since July, the real pensions have decreased by 1.4%.

Nominally, the average national pension for the year (October 2020 to September 2019) has increased by 5.9% (due to the July increase), and the consumer annual inflation (prices in October 2020 to October 2019) has amounted to 6.1% even officially. As a result, the purchasing power of pensions has become less than it was a year ago.

Since the July increase, pensions have already fallen in purchasing power by 1.4% by November. And by December, the decline will be even greater. So, the pension increase announced in December will be insufficient again, and in a couple of months their real decline will be registered again.