The State Duma will discuss the refusal to index the salaries of civil servants for a year

On October 25, the State Duma will consider in the first reading a bill that will make it possible not to index the salaries of judges, civil servants, police officers, military personnel, etc. in 2024. The government introduced this initiative on September 29. Now the budget is being adopted, the priority is fulfilling social obligations, infrastructure development and ensuring the objectives of the special operation, the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on State Construction, Daniil Bessarabov, told Vedomosti.

Therefore, it was decided to suspend indexation for certain categories of citizens in 2024, Bessarabov said: “But there is one point – the draft provides for skipping the indexation of salaries of military personnel and persons equivalent to them. This point was discussed in our committee and in the budget committee, and there was a proposal that indexation should still be carried out for this category.” This issue will be discussed for the second reading.

According to the White House bill, until January 1, 2025, the provisions relating to the annual indexation of salaries are suspended in several laws – “On the status of judges”, “On the status of a senator and the status of a State Duma deputy”, “On the state civil service”, “On social guarantees” employees of internal affairs bodies”, “On monetary allowances for military personnel”, “On social guarantees for employees of some federal executive authorities” (applies to employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service, Federal Bailiff Service, Ministry of Emergency Situations, etc.). The law should come into force on January 1, 2024.

The provisions that suspend the effect state that salaries are indexed annually in accordance with the budget law, taking into account the level of inflation. The government did not abandon the indexation of wages for employees of public sector organizations in 2024, noted in the explanatory note. Their payments on October 1, 2024 will increase at a projected inflation rate of 4.5%.

Indexation was to take place on October 1, 2024 at a rate of 4%. The salaries of those holding government positions will also not be indexed until 2025, in particular the president, prime minister and members of the government, State Duma deputies and senators, etc. In 2023, salaries for these categories were raised from October 1 by 5.5% .

The Ministry of Finance, due to various circumstances – attempts to save the budget, provide incentives to reduce the overgrown apparatus, not to increase inflation – uses different technologies for indexing salaries, explains Vice-Rector of the Financial University Alexander Safonov.