The Russian State Statistics Service made public the statistical reports about the level of salaries of federal public servants for the first half of 2012. The governmental staff retained a higher salary than the presidential administration. The experts called the statistical figures in the report expected, but condemn a high number of public officials in the country.
The statistical report noted that the average salary in the governmental staff went up 31.2% and reached a little more than 110,900 roubles for the first half of 2012, whereas the salaries of officials in the presidential administration went up just 16.6% to reach about 102,900 roubles by late June, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily reported. The newspaper assumes that the Kremlin officials may outpace their governmental colleagues for the level of incomes soon. The problem is that a substantial part of highly-paid public servants were reappointed in the presidential administration from the government after the Putin-led Cabinet. They will change the statistical figures.
Meanwhile, the newspaper noted the fact that the growth of the incomes of public servants is formally considered to be frozen. The moratorium came into effect as an anti-crisis measure to cut down the budget deficit in 2009 and continued in 2010. Last year the moratorium on the salary growth was prolonged until January 1, 2014. Meanwhile, the moratorium did not become an obstacle for the decision to adjust the salaries of public servants to the inflation rate, increasing them by six percent last October.
Director of the Institute of Globalization Problems Mikhail Delyagin voiced his opinion on the issue. “The announcement of the moratorium on the growth of salaries is a good gesture, which shows that the bureaucratic staff is ready to share the ordeals of the crisis with ordinary people and fasten the belts tighter. But then public servants begin to loosen their belts for higher incomes. If the previous decision is unprofitable, we should not recall about it,” Delyagin said in the philosophical manner.
Director General of the Centre of Political Information Alexei Mukhin, who is cited by the RBC daily, believes that the ratio of the salaries in the governmental staff and the presidential administration is not surprising. “The problem is not in Medvedev and Putin, it is not linked with concrete names. Traditionally officials of the executive authorities receive more money thanks to various bonuses, which are given to them on the basis of their duties. Governmental officials receive more because they work more formally,” he explained. The analysts believe that the number of public servants is proportional to the scale of the country, but their numerical growth is taken as “an alarming tendency” all the same. “The growth in the number of public servants shows that the system is not regulated and some functions are duplicated,” Alexei Mukhin said, noting that the situation can be improved, introducing exams for a public servant, who intends to take a public post.