Lithuania’s minimum monthly wage may increase by 15-19 percent next year, and pensions and government-paid employees’ salaries should be raised by 10 percent, Mykolas Majauskas, chairman of the parliamentary Committee on Budget and Finance, said.

“(The minimum wage) should increase by between 15 and 19 percent,” Majauskas told the Ziniu Radijas radio station.

“Accordingly, the government should calculate how much the non-taxable personal income threshold should increase so as to ease somewhat the burden on businesses, because a minimum wage increase, first of all, places a burden on small and medium-sized businesses,” the MP said.

“The minimum wage should be increased according to a pre-agreed formula so that it depends on objective economic parameters, rather than on the goodwill of politicians,” he added.

According to Majauskas, pensions should increase by at least 10 percent next year, as should the basic amount used for calculating salaries in the public sector.

The committee’s chairman believes that salaries have to increase by at least 10 percent to partially offset the loss of purchasing power due to inflation soaring to 20 percent.

According to the MP, the public sector currently employs some 300,000 people who are paid around 1,500 euros monthly.

This year, Lithuania’s minimum monthly wage stands at 730 euros before tax or 550 euros after tax.

The Bank of Lithuania in July suggested raising the minimum wage by 18.9 percent, or 138 euros, to 868 euros next year.

The central bank said, however, that it would support more cautious moves, such as delaying decisions on the minimum pay or raising it in stages, due to the high level of economic uncertainty.

The Tripartite Council, which brings together the government, employers and trade unions, has already started discussions on a minimum wage increase, but the final decision will have to be made by the Cabinet.

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