Economic growth not an end in itself, vital to boost incomes - Putin
MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) - Public- and social-sector wages, to which the May presidential decree does not apply, will be indexed by 4.3% on October 1, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with Cabinet ministers.
The main topic of the meeting was additional measures to speed up economic growth and raising household incomes. "Economic growth itself is not an end in itself - the end result, raising incomes, is what is important," Putin said.
He said agreement had been reached to take specific measures in this area right now, "namely that wages for public sector employees and employees of the social sphere and some other categories of employee to which the May decree did not extend should be indexed on October 1."
Also, the old-age insurance pensions of non-working pensioners must be indexed by 6.6% on January 1, 2020.
"Pay for the military and persons of equal status must be indexed from October 1. Overall military pensions should grow 6.3%. I would like to hear from colleagues how ready the government is today to carry those measures out," Putin said.