Lukashenka’s Assistant: We Have To Either Raise Retirement Age Or Reduce Salary

Lukashenka’s assistant, Chief Inspector for Minsk Aliaksandr Yakabson considers that “the situation in the country is growing into raising the retirement age.”

He stated that at the plenary session of the I Forum of young workers on February 10, tut.by reports.

According to Yakabson, the average life expectancy is increasing in the country, changing the ratio of employed and unemployed. “The number of people who don’t work exceeds the number of people who do”, – Aliaksandr Yakabson said.

In the present situation, Belarus has two ways: “In order to maintain the increasing number of pensioners within the existing framework of the pension fund, it is necessary either to reduce the average salary to provide relevant contributions to the pension fund, or to increase the retirement age.”

Aliaksandr Yakabson suggested that the increase in retirement age in Belarus will be held in several stages. “It won’t happen all at once – 60 and 65 years. It will be done gradually. But the society must set the seal to that. There are objective grounds for that,” – he said.

Yakabson also drew attention to the fact that today there are only a few countries left in the world, where the retirement age is as low as in Belarus.