My position has always been for a permanent increase in pensions, not one-off benefits. This is what the resigned Minister of Finance Asen Vassilev said at a briefing.
He called on the deputies “not to play with populism, but to do the right thing”. “For our parents to have a dignified old age based on a permanent increase in pensions under the Swiss Rule. Everything else is cheap populism”, the resigned finance minister pointed out.
„In 2009, the average pension was BGN 288, in 2020 it reached BGN 382, an increase of less than BGN 10 per year. In 2023, the average pension reached BGN 788, more than double the average for 2020. As of July 1, it has been stipulated in the Budget Law and that of the National Institute of Social Sciences that it will reach BGN 883, which is almost a 100% increase for all pensioners, and not BGN 75 one-time pre-election supplement”, Asen Vassilev recalled.
„Pre-election giving supplements is an extremely vicious practice that divides pensioners into groups. This will leave over 75% of Bulgarian pensioners without supplements. At BGN 527, the pension will not receive a supplement, if it is BGN 4 lower, it will receive a BGN 75 supplement. The question here is why we divide pensioners instead of permanently increasing their pensions. Handing out money unprincipledly without funding it in the budget is an extremely vicious practice to keep pensions low. We want them to increase”, the finance minister pointed out.