„My position has always been for a permanent increase in pensions, not one-time benefits. This is a vicious practice and divides pensioners into groups.“
This was announced at a briefing by the resigned Finance Minister Asen Vassilev. He commented on the proposal of deputies from GERB and DPS to pay Easter supplements of BGN 75 to pensioners who receive per month below the poverty line – BGN 526, summarized bTV.
The proposal assumes 534,000 adults will take the one-off benefit. The chairman of the parliamentary social commission Denitsa Sacheva from GERB announced that about BGN 40 million are needed for this purpose.
In this regard, the Minister of Finance reported that at the end of February, about BGN 6 million more had been collected in the budget of the National Social Security Institute (NSI) and probably by the end of March it will be BGN 10 million. It is possible by the end of the year to be BGN 40 million, but it is not certain, it depends on many factors, Vassilev specified.
He also added that no transfer from the state budget is foreseen, but the additions are expected to be paid from internal reserves in the budget of the National Institute of Social Sciences.
The proposal is populist and could jeopardize the increase of all pensions from July 1, the finance minister summarized.
Vasilev reminded that according to the Swiss rule from July 1 this year, the minimum pension will increase by nearly BGN 50, and the average – with BGN 100. This increase in pensions is included in the budget of the State Social Insurance and is 11%.