Mocking “minimum”

• 29.01.2010, 13:47

The Ministry of Labour and Social Protection of Belarus issued a regulation establishing sizes of minimum consumer budget in average prices of December 2009.

The norms will be effective from February 1 to April 30 2010. The average minimum consumer budget for a four-person family will amount to 390,020 rubles per month from February 1, 2010. As of now, the minimum budget comes to 387,690 rubles ($134).

The minimum consumer budget is a social standard for forecasting changes in level of living and governmental aid to the needy. However, the authorities do not apparently hurry to help, so the size of the minimum budget is derisive. How can a person to live on 100,000 rubles ($32)?

We remind that the Belarus demonstrated Europe’s second highest inflation rate in 2009. According to official data, consumer prices in the country increased by 10.1%, but independent experts claim the inflation rate was even higher.

The country showed the highest rise in the US dollar against the national currency among the post-Soviet countries. The official rate of the dollar grew by 30.14% (from 2200 to 2863 rubles) over the year.

The minimum wage of a Belarusian amounts to 229,700 rubles ($79.4 according to the exchange rate of the National Bank) since August 1, 2009.