The president’s speech to the Federal Assembly is, first of all, an opening speech by the head of the country, in which he gives clear development goals for the coming year.
Photo: Vladimir VELENGURIN
The president’s speech to the Federal Assembly is, first of all, an opening speech by the head of the country, in which he gives clear development goals for the coming year. And this is what Vladimir Putin said this time:
MINIMUM INCREASE
– The minimum wage was increased twice last year, by almost 20% in total. We will continue to increase the minimum wage, and at a rate higher than inflation and wage growth. Since the beginning of the year, it has been indexed at 6.3%. I propose starting in January of next year, in addition to the planned increase, to carry out another one, at an additional 10%. Thus, the minimum wage will increase by 18.5% and will amount to 19,242 rubles.
Keep in mind that the minimum wage is different from the living wage. The minimum wage does not affect social benefits, but only relates to workers’ wages. It is important that the authorities monitor the implementation of the presidential order. The fact is that in the past, employers have already been caught up in tricks. People were forcibly transferred from full time to part time. Formally, the requirement to increase the minimum wage was met, but in reality people continued to receive the same amount in their hands. But these are details.
SUPPORT FOR VETERANS
– I propose to create a state fund, its task will be to provide personal assistance to the families of servicemen killed in the Northern Military District. Each family should be assigned a personal worker. Already this year, the fund should be deployed in all regions of Russia.
A more important separate task of the foundation is the organization of long-term care at home, high-tech prostheses for all who need it. I ask the Government, together with the Social Policy Commission of the Council of State, the regions, to resolve all organizational issues as soon as possible. The work of the state fund should be open, and the procedure for providing assistance should be simple, according to the principle of “one window”, without treasury and bureaucracy, – Putin said.
For obvious reasons, this initiative by the president will only affect the participants in the special operation and their families. Apparently, a separate fund is needed precisely to reduce this very “red tape” and “red tape”.
The fact is that now the aid is scattered in various departments. The Ministry of Defense is doing something, the Social Fund is doing something, the municipalities are doing something. Obviously, it all largely depends on the specific artists in the field. Centralizing the process will have to improve support for veterans.
MATKAPITAL IN NEW REGIONS
– Since February 1, the maternity capital is indexed by 11.9%. I propose to issue maternity capital in new regions to families where children have been born since 2007. That is, from the start of the all-Russian program. The same decision was once made for the residents of Crimea and Sevastopol, the head of the country recalled.
Now it is difficult to assess how many people and how much money we are talking about, and whether there will be additional conditions in this program. There are many options.
According to the autumn plans, in 2023, the program was expected to allocate a total of 550.7 billion rubles, based on the fact that about 1.475 million people will apply for maternity capital.
SOCIAL GASIFICATION
“For citizens, said program will now operate continuously, they will always be able to request a connection,” the president said.
On February 1, the government announced that it would allocate 2.5 billion rubles to 54 regions for social gasification. The pipe to the site or the house is thrown free of charge. And veterans, low-income families and parents with many children will still be able to receive assistance of up to 100,000 rubles for indoor gas driving.
ALTERNATIVE TO DEPOSITS
– Throughout the world, the long-term savings of citizens are an important source of investment resources. And we also have to stimulate their entry into the investment sector. I ask the government to speed up the submission of bills to the State Duma to launch the corresponding state program from April this year.
At the same time, it is necessary to guarantee the security of citizens’ investments in voluntary pension savings. There must be the same mechanism as in the bank deposit insurance system. Let me remind you that such deposits of citizens in the amount of up to 1 million 400 thousand rubles are insured by the state and their return is guaranteed. For voluntary pension savings, I propose to double the amount, up to 2 million 800 thousand rubles, said the Russian leader.
The country’s government is clearly preparing to borrow money in the domestic market. In the coming years, the budget is planned with a deficit: the decrease in income is partially offset by attracting investment.
Most likely, people will be offered higher interest rates than bank deposits. Another thing is that government bonds are usually sold for the long term, several years. And early refunds won’t work. Deposit money can be withdrawn ahead of schedule at any time, if you reject the interest received.
NEW SCHOOLS
– We have launched a great school renovation program. By the end of this year, a total of nearly 3.5 thousand school buildings will have been put in order. I draw your attention to the fact that most of them are located in rural areas. This year, such work is also being carried out in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the Russian leader said.
He recalled that by the end of 24 a total of 1,300 new schools will be built. This year 400 of them will be opened. 490 billion rubles have been allocated from the budget for the program.
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