Moscow, 26 July: Russian President Vladimir Putin today urged the government to cut wage debts in the budget-financed sector. Putin stressed that, despite pledges by the Finance Ministry and the government to cut debts on salaries by the summer, they "have grown, and considerably so".
At a meeting with the deputy prime minister in charge of social issues, Valentina Matviyenko, Putin said that wage debts in the budget sector stood at R2.9bn. The president said that he was particularly concerned by the fact that teachers had failed to get their holiday bonuses. He said he had been informed that teachers would get that money only by the end of August or early in September.
The deputy prime minister admitted that wage debts in Russian regions had grown and amounted to about R3bn. In June alone, wage debts to budget-sphere workers increased by R1bn. Matviyenko said that the increase had been caused by a big amount of payments on holiday bonuses for teachers. "Not all the territories have coped with that task fully," she admitted.
According to her, the government had earmarked additional means for the payment of salaries in the budget sector. She said that an additional R5bn had been allocated for that. Besides, the cabinet of ministers has submitted a bill to the State Duma lower house of parliament, which is offering to allocate an additional R10bn for budget-financed wages.
Matviyenko said, however, that no wage debts were registered in 57 constituent territories. The most difficult situation with debts has developed in 17 regions. According to Matviyenko, the Finance Ministry has prepared offers on additional aid to "problem territories" to remedy the situation before a new school year begins.