"Bearing in mind that we managed to keep the situation under control, it is time to start carefully thinking about raising minimum wages and basic wages, because we should not only save but also stimulate the economy within the framework of the 3-percent budget deficit," the president told journalists.
"State service costs should remain about the same, yet even here we have extensive reserve in the budget," Grybauskaitė said.
Last month, the Cabinet decided to increase the minimum monthly salary to 850 litas (EUR 246.4) as of 1 August. Jurgis Razma, elder of the political group of the ruling conservatives, said a few weeks ago that members of the ruling coalition in the parliament agreed on the need to raise the basic salary in 2013. The basic salary is used to calculate monthly wages of politicians, judges, and public servants.
Asked about the resources for boosting salaries, the president said "culture workers and others with the lowest salaries" could have their wages increased by way of redistributing the existing funds. In her words, this should be done in line with the government resolution on improvement of wages of staff of state-funded institutions and organizations.
