Child benefits, social pensions, allowances and supplements for pensioners will increase from May 1
Subsistence Minimum Budget (SMB)
According to the resolution of the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of April 23, 2020 No. 38, the SMB from May 1 to July 31, 2020 is set at Br246.78. The new SMB per capita has increased by 2.9% compared to the standard that was in effect from February 1 to April 30 of this year. The listed payments are increasing proportionally.
Child Benefits
The lump-sum benefit for the birth of the first child will now be Br2467.8, for the birth of the second and subsequent children - Br3454.92. The lump-sum benefit for women who registered with healthcare organizations before the 12th week of pregnancy will be paid in the amount of Br246.78 from November, and the benefit for families with children aged 3 to 18 during the period of raising a child under three years of age (monthly) - in the amount of Br123.39.
Monthly benefit for families with children over 3 years old from certain categories of families defined by law: for a child with a disability - Br172.75, for other children in the family - Br123.39. The monthly benefit for childcare for a child with a disability under 18 years of age is Br246.78 (with I and II degrees of health loss and with III and IV degrees of health loss until the child reaches 3 years of age) and Br296.14 (with III and IV degrees of health loss after the child reaches 3 years of age), the monthly benefit for a child under 18 years of age infected with HIV is Br172.75.
The new amounts of these payments will be valid until July 31. They are usually revised in February, May, August, and November.
State benefits for families raising children under 3 years of age (monthly) are recalculated twice a year - from February 1 and from August 1 - due to the increase in the average monthly wage in the country for the preceding quarter. The current amounts of these payments are as follows: for the first child - Br405.48, for the second and subsequent children - Br463.4, for a child with a disability - Br521.33.
Payments to Pensioners
The monthly supplement to the pensions of non-working pensioners in May-July for people aged 80 and over will be Br61.7, for people aged 75 to 80 - Br46.28. The supplement for Group I disabled persons will be Br61.7, for pensioners who have reached the age of 80 - Br30.85.
Social pensions (granted when a labor pension is not received) will increase as follows: for Group I disabled persons, including disabled persons since childhood - up to Br271.46, for Group II disabled persons since childhood - Br234.44, for Group II disabled persons (except disabled persons since childhood), for children in case of loss of a breadwinner per child - Br209.76, for Group III disabled persons - Br185.09, for persons over the generally established retirement age - Br123.39, for children with disabilities under 18 years of age with varying degrees of health impairment - from Br197.42 to Br271.46.
The benefit for caring for a Group I disabled person or a person who has reached the age of 80 will increase to Br246.78 (if caring for one such person) and to Br296.14 (for two or more).
An increase in pension amount is expected for other categories of recipients: Heroes of Belarus, the Soviet Union, Socialist Labor, blockade survivors, former prisoners of Nazi concentration camps, disabled persons since childhood due to injury, concussion, or mutilation related to combat operations during the Great Patriotic War (or consequences of military operations), and so on.
Minimum Consumer Budgets
The minimum consumer budget per family member of a four-person family from May 1 to July 31, calculated per month, will be Br406.04 (from February 1 to April 30, the corresponding MPB amount was Br374.89).
The Ministry of Labour's resolution also establishes average per capita minimum consumer budgets for a young family of three people at Br437.84; for the working-age population - Br513.77; for pensioners - Br398.4; for children under 3 years old - Br340.01; for children aged 3 to 6 years - Br434.64; for children aged 6 to 18 years - Br441.79.
As clarified by the Ministry of Labour specialists, the minimum consumer budget is the expenditure on acquiring a set of consumer goods and services to meet basic human needs. The share of expenditure items in the minimum consumer budget of a family of four in March 2020 prices is distributed as follows: food products - 48.2%, clothing, linen, footwear - 19.1%, housing and communal services - 8.7%, household services, transport, communication - 8.8%, furniture, cultural, household and utility items - 8.8%, cultural and educational events and recreation - 1.3%, contributions and payments - 2.5%, medicines, sanitary and hygiene items - 2.6%.
Average per capita minimum consumer budgets are approved quarterly and are used to analyze the achieved living standards of the population and forecast their changes, assess the material situation of various population groups, types of families, the purchasing power of the population's income, and justify the size of minimum social and labour guarantees.
Currently, the average per capita minimum consumer budget for a family of four serves as the basis for determining citizens' eligibility for preferential loans and subsidies for the construction (reconstruction) or acquisition of residential premises; for citizens permanently residing and working in settlements with a population of up to 20 thousand people - for preferential loans for major repairs and reconstruction of residential premises, construction of utility networks, erection of utility rooms and outbuildings.