Bosnia Federation Says No to Higher Pensions

Bosnia's Federation entity has slapped down a call to increase pensions, saying the damage caused by the May floods made this financially impossible.

The Association of Pensioners in the Federation entity is demanding that the government increase pensions by 5 per cent, citing the tough economic situation.

The entity Prime Minister Nermin Niksic on August 19 dismissed the call as impossible.

“That is not realistic at this moment, having in mind the natural disaster that has occurred, which has affected economic activities,” he said, referring to the disastrous floods that struck Bosnia in May.

“Lowered economic activity means lower revenues, which eventually affects the [pension] funds,” he added.

“I respect the demands of the pensioners and their situation,” he continued, arguing, however, that it would be a struggle even to keep the current level of pensions.

The associations of pensioners said their plight demanded attention. “Our life is much harder than it was than five years ago,” the president of the Assembly of Association of Pensioners in the Federation, Omer Omerefendic, said.

He added that more than a half of pensioners in the entity lived "below minimum level of human dignity".

One major problem when in comes to paying pensions in Bosnia is the number of them relative to the workforce.

In Republika Srpska, Bosnia's other entity, the number of pensioners is actually higher than the number of those with jobs.

In July this year, there was around 247,000 pensioners and around 237,500 employed persons in mainly Serbian entity.

In the Federation entity in May, there were 385,000 pensioners and around 443,000 employed persons.

“After ten years...