Real wage, pension growth should be fixed in 2017 national budget – Yatseniuk

17:43, 30.03.2016 1 min read

Growth of pensions and salaries in the budget-funded sector from 2017 should exceed the inflation level and the concrete figure should be fixed in the draft budget resolution, Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said.

"We may give a clear benchmark to have growth of social payments and people's income amount to 2% more than inflation. These are at least some goals we set for ourselves to achieve in 2017-2019," he said at a cabinet meeting in Kyiv on Wednesday.

The prime minister said that salaries and pensions in 2015 increased by 13% and 19%, respectively, while inflation was 43.3%. This year salaries and pensions will be increased by 12% with inflation projected at 12%. The Finance Ministry anticipates inflation will slow to 8% in 2017.

The latest data from the State Statistics Service shows real income of Ukrainians in Q3 2015 decreased by 26.6% year-over-year, while the decline was 9% a year ago.