Payment of pensions for the month of June in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) begins on Monday, July 5. In accordance with the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance, pensions for June will be paid through the Single Account of the Federation of BiH Treasury on July 5, the Federal Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance announced. The lowest pension is 382.18 marks, the guaranteed 478.91 marks, and the highest 2,174.48 BAM. The total funds needed for the payment of pensions for this month amount to about 195 million marks.
The announcement of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) that pensioners in the FBiH will receive a one-time financial aid, in order to help them at least a little in the pandemic, made the pensioners happy. But again, they warn that 100 or 120 BAM they will receive is not enough, because they have been living on the edge of poverty for a long time.
The amount of the guaranteed pension in the Federation is still below 500 BAM. And, the largest number of pensioners receive a pension below 400 BAM. One-time help, pensioners say, will come in handy, but it is not a solution for chronic lack of money.
SURVEY
“It may mean little to someone, but it doesn’t really mean anything. Look, the minimum pension is 370 BAM, a man who worked for 40 years to have such a pension. ”
“Let them try to live like this. Not a whole month, but at least a week. “
“Of course, pensions are not big enough, and what they give is miserable and poor.”
“It is probably low. Does anyone ask you how big the consumer basket is, or what the budget is? Not really. The ministers decide the amount and the job is done. “
The relevant ministry noted that pensioners will get help along with their pension for next month.
“Categories of pensioners in the category below the guaranteed pension will receive something around 120 BAM, while pensioners above the guaranteed up to the highest pension will probably receive the amount of 100 BAM. This is the entire retired population since most pensions in the FBiH are given to a few 1000 people,” told Kenan Spahic, Assistant Minister in the Federal Ministry of Labor and Social Policy.
The Association of Pensioners of FBiH reminds the public and politicians that many pensioners live on the edge of existence. That is why they are still hoping pensions will increase.
“We sincerely hope, and there are already indicators that show this year for the first four to five months that more favorable reports can be expected next year,” said Redzo Mehic, President of the Association of Pensioners of FBiH.
Pensioners are not an economic force, economist Zeljko Ricka pointed out. He stated that, with all the worrying economic disturbances, there is also the fact that the number of employees at the end of last year was 520.000, and the number of pensioners was around 420.000. There are over 300.000 unemployed. The permanent increase in pensions, he concludes, is very debatable.
“If in the foreseeable future there is no systemic solution for these relations between the number of employees and the number of pensioners, I am afraid that our future is not bright,” said prof. Dr. Zeljko Ricka, the economist.
He warns that economic stabilization measures must be taken urgently, since currently, he recalls, most pensions are only enough to cover utilities, if the food and medicine costs are not included.
In ten years, the consumer basket in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) has risen in price by 537 convertible marks. Namely, the trade union consumer basket, which the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH calculated for March this year, amounts to 2,106 BAM, and according to available data, the value of the consumer basket in 2011 was 1,569 BAM.
As can be assumed, the huge increase in the cost of living in BiH was not accompanied by the amounts in the current accounts of its citizens.
Namely, for those 10 years, the average salary has increased, the analysis shows, by only 162 marks. In February this year, according to the BiH Agency for Statistics, salaries averaged 961 BAM, and in the same month in 2011 they earned 799 BAM.
Commenting on these figures, the analysts point out that they reflect how bad the standard is in BiH. Marin Bago, president of the Consumers’ Association “Futura” from Mostar, estimates that the increasingly difficult life of BiH citizens is a consequence of all those things that, as he says, our political structures and institutions have failed to do. “Although it is forbidden to make extra profits in our country, I do not know that anyone in BiH has been punished for that, and there are grounds,” Bago warned in a statement for “Nezavisne novine“. He notices that the consumer basket started to be talked about a bit more actively this year, ie a month and a half ago, and to make the trouble bigger, in that period this basket in Mostar, as he points out, became more expensive by about 100 KM. “What is going on? Our families can no longer borrow, but we give up many things, for ourselves, but also for the children. The child does not get what he needs. In addition, it should be borne in mind that we eat mostly poorly, in the most unhealthy way. There is a profession that says how much we need to bring in, and we give it up. When you have an ideal situation, ie that two people work and have average salaries, even that cannot cover the monthly expenses “, said Bago. Selvedin Šatorović, President of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of BiH, believes that the figures on the growth of consumer basket prices and disproportionate wage growth are an indicator that the authorities at all levels in BiH have absolutely neglected the interests of workers and their citizens. “It is a devastating fact that it is harder for us to live today than it was ten years ago. It is also devastating that they are trying to convince us that our standard is good, having in mind that as many as 60 percent of workers work for a salary below 600 KM “, said Šatorović for” Nezavisne novine “, Capital writes.
