BGN 488.97 to be the average retired payment from 2021 is provided in the budget of the Social Security. This is an increase of 18.6%.
The Minister of Social Affairs Denitsa Sacheva commented that this year the average pension is BGN 412.28. She reminded that the practice from previous years is to raise pensions in the middle of the year, while now it is planned to increase them from January 1. However, according to political analysts, this is another attempt by the government to win voters in the face of retirees by raising their money in advance.
Sacheva notes that pensions are the main source of income for most people and their number is constantly increasing. She reported that 25% of the population in the European Union relies on a pension.
„That’s why pensions are so important in preventing poverty among the elderly.“
We remind you that every year Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria calls for an increase in pensions so that they are adequate to the economic situation in the country. However, the question arises as to how money for an increase of almost 20% was found for the next year, in advance in the conditions of the COVID crisis. According to the line minister, the minimum pension is expected to become BGN 300, which is 20 percent more. This, in turn, led to an increase in other pensions, which are defined as a percentage of it – due to disability, general illness, accident at work or occupational disease.
The ceiling will also be increased from BGN 1,200 to BGN 1,440. Retired payments under the Swiss rule will also be updated by 5%.
The Minister of Social Affairs did not fail to mention the package of measures of the government, according to which all pensioners receive BGN 50 per month in excess of their pension. Its aim is to support the most vulnerable people during the crisis. But even for this measure it was not clear how funds were found, so that every month supplements of BGN 50 are given to all retirees, no matter how much they take, and before that they were given only for Christmas and Easter and for those with lowest pensions. Iskra.bg’s forecast that the supplements will be given until the parliamentary elections in March next year has been confirmed. And this gives the impression that in this way the government „buys“ votes in the face of Bulgarian retirees.
