Pre-tax pay in January 2016 averaged out at 6,551,585 rubels ($315) compared with 7,424,092 rubels ($399.8) the previous month, reported the National Statistical Committee (Belstat).
Average real (inflation-adjusted) monthly pay in Belarus in January 2016 was 2.6 percent lower than in the first month of the previous year, Belstat said.
According to Belstat, average pre-tax monthly pay amounted to 7,537,600 rubels in the transport and communications sector, 6,785,300 rubels in the industrial sector, 6,701,000 rubels in the construction sector, 5,217,400 rubels in the public health sector, 4,858,400 rubels in the educational sector, and 4,454,300 rubels in the agriculture and forestry sector.
With 3,999,500 rubels (some $185 at the current exchange rate), the social services sector had the lowest average pay in January. The computer systems and software engineering sector had the highest average pay with 35,457,600 rubels ($1,640).
Average monthly pay may plunge to $200 in 2016, Yaraslaw Ramanchuk, a former presidential candidate who heads the Ludwig von Mises think tank, told reporters in Minsk last month.
«The year will be so tough that I think the worst scenario will be monthly pay falling to the equivalent of $200 considering the current exchange rate trend, the sharp fall in proceeds from oil and petroleum products, and the fact that a large part of stallholders may be left without a job,» the economist said.
The economy ministry has projected pre-tax monthly pay in Belarus to increase by 14 percent in 2016 to amount to 8,841,000 rubels.
