Pensioners in the Federation are waiting for the session of the House of Peoples this Thursday. If the Draft Law on Pension and Disability Insurance is adopted, after the urgency of Prime Minister Fadil Novalic, a significant increase in pensions will be enabled, thus making their daily lives easier for this category of population. We checked whether this would mean fulfilling the pensioner’s request.
The final adoption of legal amendments, which, as pensioners say, could have been considered in the parliamentary procedure before, does not inspire much hope even now. The situation in the country, as well as other factors, does not promise a better situation, so it is not surprising that they are still skeptical.
And the amount of 6 percent, which is planned for an extraordinary increase, is not certain. Although, thanks to the growth of GDP in the previous year, conditions have been created for this year’s regular and extraordinary increase in pensions, it has not yet been specifically defined.
“I do not want to talk about the exact percentages until we receive official data on the growth of gross domestic product last year, which we will have at the end of March, but I can already say with certainty that it will be significant,” said Prime Minister Novalic.
However, not all pensioners agree that it is important and that their position will be facilitated in this way.
“This law does not meet our requirements, we are looking for European solutions, in the EU the average pension is 52% of the average salary,” said Vehid Jahic, president of the Tuzla Pensioners’ Party.
The Federation of Pensioners’ Associations of FBiH and the Federal Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, on the other hand, are optimistic about the procedure itself, and see no reason why these changes would not be adopted for the benefit of all pensioners.
“Pensioners can expect that pensions will increase by 10-12% this year. In that way, the lowest pension, which amounts to 382 BAM, will amount to around 430 BAM, and the guaranteed, ie earned – 550 BAM. Thus, we will finally achieve this year that the average pension will be 50% of the average salary “, points out Redzad Mehic, President of the Association of Pensioners of FBiH.
Zijad Krnjic, Director of the Federal Pension and Disability Insurance Institute, explains: previous years, and also extraordinary, which will be differentiated later ”.
Even if the proposal of this law is adopted, and the pensions themselves are increased, taking into account the unstoppable growth of prices and the increasingly difficult economic situation, it will again be very little for the most endangered category of society.
