site.btaGovernment to Back 11% Pension Rise at Social Security Institute

At a meeting of the Supervisory Board of the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) on Tuesday, the representatives of the executive branch of government will vote in favour of a proposal by caretaker Labour and Social Policy Minister Ivaylo Ivanov on a 11% increase of pensions, Bulgaria's caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev told a news briefing here on Monday.

The PM stressed that the 11% rise will be backed even though NSSI experts have estimated that the rise should be 10%, as required by Article 100 of the Social Insurance Code, according to which pensions must be adjusted annually by 50% of the previous year's inflation, whether positive or negative, and by 50% of the growth of the average contributory income (the so-called "Swiss rule").

Nevertheless, the NSSI Supervisory Board has the final say on the matter, and this is regulated by legislation.

"Let pensioners rest assured: they will get an 11% rise, to the extent that this is up to the representatives of the executive. I suppose that the rest will hardly oppose this, either, but I'd rather not usurp anybody's functions. The rest who raised all that fuss will probably calm down, too. I hope they focus more on their election campaign," Glavchev added.

Of the 20 members of the NSSI Supervisory Board, 10 represent various central government departments: the ministries of labour and social policy, of health, of finance, of economy and industry, and of education and science, and the National Revenue Agency. The remaining members are from the nationally representative trade unions and employers' associations.   

Earlier on Monday, Ivanov said that he will propose an 11% pension adjustment, effective July 1, 2024, as adopted by Parliament in the 2024 Public Social Insurance Budget Act.

Also on Monday, Continue the Change - Democratic Bulgaria (CC-DB) Co-floor Leader Assen Vassilev told a news conference in Ruse (on the Danube) that any time the caretaker cabinet "makes outrageous decisions, we will demand that Parliament intervene and stop these outrageous actions." Vassilev reacted to Sunday's news that a NSSI draft report suggested that pensions should be raised by 10% instead of 11%.