“Social Treasury will not help everyone in need”
The state support system for the poor in Russia does not yet cover all those in need, but in four years the situation will change. According to First Deputy Prime Minister Andrei Belousov, the emerging Social Treasury will solve the targeting problem. It will accurately see those citizens who really need benefits, and quickly bring help to them, the official said.
Earlier, Labor Minister Anton Kotyakov said that in the pandemic 2020, over 90% of families of low-income Russians received assistance in one form or another. Social Treasury is a new model that will be fully operational in 2025. By combining the data of information systems on a single platform EGISSO (Unified State Information System for Social Security), the state will be able to simply and quickly appoint support measures, explained Kotyakov. In turn, the World Bank notes that most social support programs in Russia are focused on the use of categorical methods: recipients are selected based on their belonging to a particular socio-demographic group, regardless of their actual need. We asked the experts if the Social Treasury will ensure one hundred percent hit the target.
Alexey Zubets, Professor of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation:
“There are many situations in which the new state structure will be out of work. The problem with targeted assistance falls into two parts. Firstly, it is extremely difficult to deal with households where, for example, a man and a woman are not officially married, but jointly manage the budget and have common children. Formally, such a woman with children, if she is not yet working, needs benefits. In fact, her life can be gorgeous. The second point is gray business, which does not allow determining the real income of a person. Well, the Social Treasury will appear, and what next? It will not help everyone in need, it will not close some questions. Take some sick pensioner living in a five-room apartment, which she inherited from her husband or parents. Can she be considered poor if she has property worth several million dollars at her disposal? It is too early to say that targeted assistance is automated and will soon reach everyone. ”
Pavel Kudyukin, member of the Council of the Confederation of Labor of Russia:
“The problem of targeted support for the population has not been fully resolved anywhere in the world. The contingent of those in real need is very difficult to determine. Although such leading Western countries as France and Germany have learned to do this clearly better than Russia. I do not understand on what basis the authorities are making such optimistic statements. We are doing very badly considering the real disposable income of households. Many work in the gray sector, nothing is known about them at all. Statements of officials regarding the omnipotence of the Social Treasury and the future absolute targeting have been sucked out of their fingers. ”
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