Opinions & Interviews

MINSK, 5 April (BelTA) – Targeted support will make the basis of the Belarusian social policy in 2016-2020, Belarus’ Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said as he presented the country’s government action plan for 2016-2020 on 5 April, BelTA has learned.

“Targeted support will be the basic framework of the social policy in the current five-year period. The government will not scatter funds but pinpoint its help for those who really need it,” Andrei Kobyakov noted.

In his words, the government has formed a powerful social package of programs. “Six of 20 government programs are socially-oriented. Two thirds of the funds envisaged for the implementation of the whole package will be allocated to these six,” the PM stressed.

According to Andrei Kobyakov, abandonment of overall subsidizing and a shift to the support of targeted groups will provide an opportunity to strengthen the support of those who need it and relocate the freed resources to necessary social projects.

“The social block of the program is focused on securing financial sustainability of the pension system and its adaptation to the changing economic and demographic conditions, the improvement of quality and service availability (education, healthcare and others) and the creation of conditions to secure decent living standards,” the Premier said.