From July 1, the minimum pension for seniority and age will be 630.50 leva, and the social pension for old age is in the amount of - 333.48 leva. This is the effect of the update of pensions by 8.6%.
The National Social Security Institute has already made the recalculation, it has covered all pensions granted by the end of last year. Their number is slightly over 2.041 million.
In the issued orders for determining the new pension amounts - the amounts are indicated both in leva and in euros, the governor of the National Social Security Institute Ivaylo Ivanov announced to the Bulgarian National Radio. He told the Bulgarian National Radio that the average amount of the pension paid from July 1 will be 1,012 leva. The number of people with pensions below the poverty line will be reduced:
"About 670 thousand pensioners receive a pension that is below the poverty line of 638 leva. After the increase by 8.6%, about 150 thousand of them will be less than those who receive funds below the poverty line".
After the update, the number of people limited by the pension ceiling of 3,400 leva will almost double. They will be 8,800.
Since April 1, over 260,000 self-insured people have already been paying on top of the higher minimum insurance income, and for another 325,000, the insurance premiums are also higher due to the new higher maximum insurance rate that has come into effect:
"Since the measure came into effect, the expected revenues have amounted to an additional 480 million leva, which I believe is a serious amount. In this way, the transfer from the state budget decreases as a percentage compared to last year".
The Governor of the National Social Security Institute confirmed that the institutions are already working on preparing the roadmap for changes in the pension system, but is categorical that raising the retirement age is not being discussed.