Pensions to be increased by end of 2018

The 2014 law on temporary pension cuts will be abolished, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Friday.

Vucic said that he would like the government to be able to implement this from November to enable pension increases to take effect by the end of the year.

Compared to 2018, the increases will amount to 5-25 pct, or to 8.4-13.3 pct compared to 2014, when the law was introduced, Vucic told reporters in Obrenovac.

The government announced on Friday that it will adopt a bill to abolish temporary reduction of pensions at the end of this year, annulling the measures for reducing pensions made in late 2014, when Serbia faced severe financial problems and was close to bankruptcy, after which fiscal consolidation began.

By abolishing this law, pensions will be increased for those who receive pensions of above RSD 25,000, while pensions that were not reduced in 2014 will be increased by five percent.

By implementing this measure for the largest number of pensioners, about one million of them with incomes of less than RSD 25,000 will receive pensions 13.3 percent higher than in 2014.

The surplus in the budget today is RSD 9.4 billion, which is RSD 47.1 billion above plan, the government said, adding that "last year we ended up with a surplus of RSD 33.9 billion and we expect an excellent result this year, while the public debt is reduced from 74.7 percent in 2015 to 59.9 percent this year."