Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 28 December (BelTA) – Over Br265 trillion ($14.5 billion in equivalent) will be earmarked for the state program "Health of the nation and demographic security" in the next five-year period, Belarus’ Deputy Prime Minister Natalia Kochanova said in an interview with BelTA.

The funding for the new program has been increased more than 15 times as compared with the previous demographic security program (taking into account that the state programs that were executed individually were integrated into one). "Despite the difficult economic situation, no social program has been curtailed. Their number has been reduced by integrating the interrelated areas. Such an approach will help focus the resources on the most important issues,” the Vice Premier said.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that Belarus’ social development goals will remain the same. The care for people has always been and will remain the key principle of the state policy. “The state budget for 2016 attests to this. As much as 4.85% of Belarus’ GDP will be spent on education (in 2015 the figure stood at 4.82%) and 4.28% on healthcare (in 2015 it was 3.99%). If we take into account off-budget activities, the figures will be even higher,” Natalia Kochanova said.

She noted that this trend will continue in the coming years. The government will continue earmarking considerable funds for social purposes.