Regime Bites Hand That Feeds It

• 14.06.2017, 9:27

The Belarusian authorities derail themselves.

Last week, it became known that there is a considerable shortage – more than $ 150 million, – in the Social Protection Fund, from which pensions, scholarships and benefits are paid. According to the Ministry of Finance, the Social Protection Fund incomings amounted to BYN 3.749 billion in January-April, and the Fund's expenses totaled to the amount of BYN 4,050 billion, i.е. the deficit amounted to BYN 301.1 million, Belgazeta writes.

BusinessForecast.by research group analyst Aliaksandr Mukha notes that the Social Protection Fund imbalance is caused by the decrease in revenues against the backdrop of rising scale of expenditures. According to him, it is possible that the small non-state enterprises workers’ salary fund was reduced in the analyzed period. The decrease in the number of sole traders also had a negative impact on the dynamics of incomings in the Social Protection Fund – from 253,378 thousand people as of March 1, 2016, to 247,419 thousand people as of March 1, 2017.

By the way, the reduction is understandable – people do not want to be treated like cash cows, so they scrap business in Belarus and open it in other countries. Independent mass media report that many businessmen today receive "chain letters", demanding that they pay the fee to the Social Protection Fund following a cunning scheme. Even if an entrepreneur did not conduct any business activities in 2016, he has to pay more than BYN 950. In addition, if a sole trader exceeds the term of payment for at least a day, he is fined by adding 10-20% of the unpaid amount.

As one of the Social Protection Fund employees told the periodical, the instruction to fine people massively came "from above." As she says, the courts are overloaded with administrative cases against sole traders. So it turns out that, wanting to boost the coffers by fines and extortions, the state achieves the opposite effect and, in fact, bites the hand that feeds it.