UPDATE: Govt to allot 5 bln rbl to upgrade preretirement age people skills

(Adds comments, details in paragraphs 3, 5)

MOSCOW, Jul 16 (PRIME) -- The Russian government plans to allot 5 billion rubles annually to improve the qualification of citizens of a preretirement age, Labor and Social Protection Minister Maxim Topilin said Monday at a meeting of the State Duma’s committee on budget and taxes.

“We are developing a program of skills upgrade for those people who will be in a preretirement age. The government will allocate relevant funds for this, now we assume that it can be around 5 billion rubles annually,” he said.

Topilin also said that the Labor and Social Protection Ministry is currently in a process to agree on a draft bill to change the size of unemployment benefits with the Finance Ministry.

The government currently plans to raise the retirement age to 65 years from 60 years for men and to 63 years from 55 years for women.

The committee on budget and taxes on Monday recommended the State Duma, the parliament’s lower house, to approve the first reading of a bill on a gradual increase of the retirement age in 2019–2034.

(62.2934 rubles – U.S. $1)

End