Press Digest 02.10.2014

Will pensions increase by only 10 GEL from 2015?

"From 2015, the Government is expected to allocate a larger amount of funds for the pensioners. However, the authorities have not yet fixed the date for when they plan to distribute higher pensions to our elderly citizens; neither have they released any further information regarding this subject; however, as the Rezonansi gazette found out pensions in Georgia will most likely increase from September, 2015, by 10 laris only.

“As the budget project has it, within the reforms that are to be passed in 2015-2016, social issues are planned to be refined in our country; pensions and other social benefits are expected to ratchet up in the future. “However, at the Finance Ministry, they have not yet made it clear when pensions will increase. “We are working on this issue now, and we promise you that the pension package will undoubtedly be improved. The date when boosted pensions will be distributed to our citizens will be set later,” says the Finance Ministry. However, the Rezonansi gazette decided to obtain further information regarding this immensely acute issue independently,” says the article.

“After detailed analysis, we have figured out that as much as 1.360 billion GEL has been allocated for our pension fund. This means that next year, the Government will have to allocate 34 million GEL more than the aforementioned sum to finance the pension fund. By increasing fanatical resources of the pension fund, we plan to increase pensions. Due to the fact that our economic advancement is moving at a snail’s pace, the Government will fail to boost pensions from January 1. That makes us presume that the authorities will employ an already tried method and next year they will increase pensions by 10 GEL,” reads the paper.

“As the Social Service Agency informs, as many as 683 thousand pensioners reside in Georgia today. And if they boost the pensions of all these people by 10 GEL, they will have to deplete the state budget by more than 27 million GEL. Our Government obviously withdraws financial resources from the state budget for social purposes and first of all, for pensions. This is a rather large amount of money which is why they are still seeking additional resources. However, at the same time, 150 or 160 GEL is peanuts which cannot really guarantee a carefree life for the elderly,” writes the author of the article.

“The Georgian Dream Government to which our people have given their vote of confidence without hesitation has only partially delivered the goods by increasing pensions by 150 GEL that is the lowest compensation our people get in Georgia. As specialist maintain, pension expenses substantially depletes our budget annually. Thus, the Government has to pace up the process of passing pension reforms to rectify the existing situation in the immediate future,” concludes the author of the article.