[ad_1]
Whether pensions should be increased in 2021 or not will be a hot topic in the coming months for both the government and this billionaire population. Especially since representatives of the mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) recommended last week that Serbia limit the growth of salaries and income of retirees in the next year. At the same time, Serbian First Man Aleksandar Vučić and Finance Minister Siniša Mali are telling retirees not to worry.
President Vučić told retirees to be “calm, because pensions will not only be safe and regular, but will also increase”, and that, as he noted, “is not insignificantly higher.”
Minister Mali told Tanjug that one of the topics of the meeting with the IMF representatives in October will be the refinement of the Swiss model of pension growth, which means that the growth of pensions will be harmonized with the growth of wages. and inflation. Mali says that the Swiss model of pension growth is the best possible model that protects the interests of pensioners.
– In the coming days, we will have information on the expected increase in pensions for next year, considering that we are just finishing the analysis of wage growth and inflation for September – Mali said.
Instead, Tao Zhang, the IMF’s deputy chief executive officer and acting chairman, says fiscal space should focus on public investment, which will be crucial to supporting growth, while limiting public sector wage and pension increases.
On the other hand, Đuro Perić, member of PUPS and former president of the Association of Pensioners of Serbia, says that, first of all, it must be said that nothing is said here about the increase in pensions. Unless the government intends to increase pensions in addition to this adjustment and make pensioners happy, which is unlikely.
Pensions will not increase. They will only be adjusted according to the valid Swiss formula: 50 percent with the growth of inflation and 50 percent with the growth of wages. According to the law, this adjustment for pensioners continues every January 1. How much it will be, will be known when you see how much, in the first place, is the growth of wages in the third quarter, he says.
These days, the PUPS agrees, he says, in suggesting to the new government and assembly that one of its priorities is to update the Swiss formula. Exactly what the Minister of Finance announced.
– And that means that a protection clause will be introduced in the law, according to which pensions will be extraordinarily adjusted every time they fall below 50 percent of the average salary, which is the case even now, because they are around 47 percent – Perić points out.
– What we particularly insist on in the Pensioners Union is that the existing Swiss formula does not change, as proposed by the Fiscal Council, but that everything remains as it is. If there were a change, the share of pensions in wages would be significantly lower, says Perić.
Jovan Tamburić, president of the Association of Retired Military Trade Unions of Serbia, says that the answer to the question of increased pensions, and indeed it is a question of regular adjustment, will be known after the Pension Insurance Fund and Disability disclose the structure of your income. payment of taxes and contributions, at the time of kovida 19, when many people received the minimum or were fired.
– We will ask the pension fund to provide us with this information to find out exactly how many workers pay contributions and on what basis. The situation should never be better, because, according to the statements of the officials, unemployment has dropped to seven percent. If so, the PIO fund has no reason not to present the public structure of its income – says Tamburić.
Milan Nenadić, president of the Vojvodina Pensioners Association, says that until the Swiss formula improves, it is realistic to expect a new harmonization of pensions with the growth of wages and prices in early 2021.
– Although it is too early to say how much this new adjustment could be, because it is not yet known what the growth in wages will be at the end of the year, pensioners should not even think about whether there will be money for them. They have already borne enough the weight of the previous economic crisis and now it would be fine if no one touches their pensions anymore – says Nenadić.
He points out that he is not surprised by the IMF’s recommendations not to increase pensions, because they are always on the alert and suggest that public finances should be taken into account, he says.
Given that, he adds, if we hear every day that we have the smallest drop in GDP in Europe, that unemployment is in the single digits, that we have gone through this wave of crisis with less pain than the others, we should not question the new adjustment to starting January 1.
He adds that by silencing the pandemic, the government should begin to apply a protection mechanism so that pensions do not fall below 50 percent of the average salary, because that will only preserve the dignity of pensioners, Nenadic is categorical.
[ad_2]
