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Experts unveil findings of poll studying public's perception of social, economic situation in Belarus

Representatives of the Vilnius-based Belarusian Institute of Strategic Studies (BISS) held a news conference in Minsk on Wednesday to unveil the findings of a poll taken to study the public's perception of the social and economic situation in the country, BelaPAN reports.

While presenting the findings, Maryna Baturchyk, an expert at the Research Center of the Institute for Privatization and Management, said that the main purpose of the survey was to study which social groups had been hit hardest by the global economic downturn and what steps the public was taking to alleviate its consequences.

Two-thirds of the population said that they had been affected by the crisis last year, but only half of them described its impact as "considerable." Some 40 percent of the interviewees - mostly retirees and students - said that they had not taken any steps to minimize the effects of the crisis.

Factory workers, small business owners, unemployed people and public sector workers have been affected worst by the crisis, while retirees and students are least-affected, according to the survey.

Most of the respondents did not put the blame for the crisis on the Belarusian authorities, saying that it was the fault of the US government, international corporations and financial organizations. The majority approved of the loan taken by the Belarusian government from the International Monetary Fund.

Commenting on the poll, BISS Director Vital Silitski noted that it had revealed increased support for free healthcare despite its mediocre performance and the government's practice of assigning low-paid jobs in the provinces to university graduates. "Interestingly, the number of people who think that working in the public sector is better than in the private one has dropped markedly," he said.