In Belarus, the procedure for determining the subsistence minimum is changing

17 September, Minsk /BELTA correspondent/. The law "On Amendments and Additions to Certain Laws of the Republic of Belarus on the Determination of the Living Wage" comes into force today, BELTA was informed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

This law (adopted on 7 May this year) amends the approach to determining the living wage, and a new group, "students," has been added to the main socio-demographic groups of the population.

The living wage includes a minimum set of food products, as well as non-food goods and services. The minimum set of food products, as before, is determined by scientifically based consumption norms and is developed by the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection jointly with the Ministry of Health, as well as scientific organizations. Non-food goods and services are included in the living wage as a fixed percentage of the cost of the minimum set of food products.

Incidentally, various methods for calculating consumer budget sizes are used in world practice. One of them is the normative method, which was used in the republic until 17 September 2014. Recently, there has been a trend in international practice towards other approaches to forming the living wage – countries are moving away from the normative calculation method. For example, Russia made relevant amendments to the legislation regulating the establishment of the living wage at the end of 2012.

When determining the living wage, a mechanism is used to calculate the cost of non-food goods and services as a percentage of the cost of the minimum set of food products (the so-called supplementary calculation method). The new mechanism for determining the cost of non-food goods and services included in the living wage, unlike the normative method of calculating the living wage, allows for the exclusion of excessive detail in the consumption norms of non-food goods and services, as well as a more flexible and prompt response to changes in the most significant trends in consumer sentiment of the population.

In order to implement the provisions of the law, by Resolution of the Council of Ministers of 4 September 2014 No. 865, the subsistence minimum for the main socio-demographic groups of the population was approved. This means that minimum food sets for the main socio-demographic groups of the population (for the working-age population (men and women), pensioners, students, children aged up to 3 years, from 3 to 6 years, from 6 to 18 years) have been determined, as well as a fixed share of 77% for calculating the cost of non-food goods and services from the cost of the minimum food set.

According to specialists, the cost value of the subsistence minimum is the subsistence minimum budget (SMB), which includes mandatory contributions and payments. The government resolution approved the Regulations on the procedure for calculating the subsistence minimum budget for the main socio-demographic groups and on average per capita. Thus, a clear algorithm for calculating budgets has been determined.

Subsistence minimum budgets are calculated, as before, for 6 main socio-demographic groups of the population: the working-age population; pensioners; students (formerly child-students); children aged up to 3 years; from 3 to 6 years; from 6 to 18 years. The average per capita subsistence minimum budget is taken as the average per capita subsistence minimum budget of a family of four.

The authority to approve the subsistence minimum budget quarterly at the prices of the last month of the quarter has been transferred from the government to the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection.

It should be noted that on 4 September 2014, Decree No. 435 "On the Subsistence Minimum Budget and Amendments to Decrees of the President of the Republic of Belarus" was adopted, which regulated issues of SMB application. The Decree defines the procedure for applying subsistence minimum budgets approved by the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus for past periods, and also provides for a transitional provision establishing a temporary period during which the subsistence minimum budget approved by the Council of Ministers and the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection can be used.-0-

News of Belarus (BELTA)