MINSK, 14 March (BelTA) – The level of reimbursement for utility costs by the Belarusian population should be increased not by means of raising tariffs, but by means of reducing the expenses of utility providers, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said when hearing out a report on the payment for utility services on 14 March, BelTA has learned.
The head of state stressed that the utility rates that have been approved today envisage the level of reimbursement of no more than 40.4% of the cost of services. The level of reimbursement for these costs should make up at least 50% by the end of 2016.
In this context, the President instructed organizations subordinate to the Housing and Utilities Ministry and the Energy Ministry to ensure the increase in the level of reimbursement not by means of raising tariffs, but by means of reducing the nonproduction costs of these organizations.
Belarus' Housing and Utilities Minister Alexander Terekhov told reporters that the utility rates approved by the head of state on 14 March will remain the same till the end of the year. “There is an instruction to raise the level of reimbursement only by means of reducing related expenses and the costs of service providers,” he noted.
The government will also create the system of cashless utility subsidies for low-income individuals. A corresponding legal act is being developed. It is planned that the state will support households if their utility expenses exceed 15% and 20% of the income in rural and urban areas respectively. “The state will provide assistance in the payment for these services, but this assistance will depend on the normative consumption rather than the actual consumption,” the minister said.
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