21 Feb 2019 11:14

Social benefits proposed by president to cost 80 bln rubles in 2019 - Golikova

MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The social benefits proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin in his Address to the Federal Assembly for realization this year will cost 80 billion rubles, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said on the show "Time Will Tell" on Channel 1 on Wednesday.

"According to our preliminary estimates, the things that fall to 2019 - in the social sphere, I mean, I'm not responsible for other expenditures - should cost around 80 billion rubles. Without a doubt, these numbers will be bigger in 2020, since additional measures will be added then, and, without a doubt, the contingent of recipients of the benefits that the president announced today will grow," Golikova said.

"As far as 2019 is concerned, the funds are in the budget," she said.

"Financial resources for some f measures have been budgeted, and we need to pass regulatory documents or adjust regulatory documents in order to implement them," Golikova said.

"The budget is usually amended in the spring and afterwards, after we have determined these amounts more precisely, then naturally we will submit them as amendments to supplement the funds that are already in the budget," she said.

"The measure related to benefits will be implemented with effect from January 1, 2020 and the others concerning home loans and disabled children will be carried out in 2019," she said.

The president in his address to the Federal Assembly on February 20 suggested by way of additional support for families with three or more children paying 450,000 rubles directly from the federal budget to cover this sum from their mortgage. He proposed backdating this payment starting January 1, 2019, recalculating it and allocating relevant sums in this year's budget. Putin also proposed extending the benefit for the entire term of the mortgage loan.

In addition, carers looking after children with disabilities and people disabled since childhood currently receive an allowance of only 5,500 rubles. Putin suggested increasing this to 10,000 rubles, starting July 1, 2019.

Putin also said subsidies would be as part of the package of measures that has already been prepared to support families. Subsidies are already paid for the first two children until they reach 18 months. Benefits for the first child are paid from the federal budget, and families can use the maternity capital subsidy for obtaining benefits for their second child. The size of the subsidy depends on the regional subsistence level for a child. Currently these allocations are reserved to families whose income does not exceed the subsistence wage multiplied by 1.5 per person. Putin proposed that starting January 1, 2020, the bar be raised to two subsistence wages per family member.