The pensions and the salaries of the budget-sector employees in Transnistria will continue to be paid at a rate of 70%. At a meeting with members of the public, Transnistria's de facto president Yevgeny Shevchuk said the budget returns are not sufficient to resume payments in full. This will change only when the situation stabilizes on the foreign markets and trade with raw materials improves, he was quoted by the local press as saying.

According to information presented by Shevchuk, since the beginning of the year the pension fund has accumulated the equivalent of only $50 million, whereas $80 million was spent to pay social payments. Yevgeny Shevchuk stated that if not for the unpopular measure of cutting payments to 70%, the Transnistrian ruble would have dramatically depreciated.

“Businesses are in a complicated situation, as some are unable to export their production and others struggle with uncompetitive production”, said Shevchuk.

In the first half of the year, pension and salary debts in the province was more than 400 million rubles (over $36 million).