site.btaFunds for Pension Increase Likely to Come from Infrastructure Projects, Labour Minister Gutsanov Says

The funds needed to increase all pensions under the Swiss rule will most likely come from infrastructure projects, Labour and Social Policy Minister Borislav Gutsanov told reporters in Parliament on Thursday.

"We are talking about BGN 417 million, which will most likely be sourced from infrastructure projects. This is a matter of calculations to be made by the Finance Ministry," Gutsanov said.

He emphasized that the most important achievement is the common understanding reached by the three ruling political formations with each making compromises to ensure the most vulnerable segments of the population are not disadvantaged.

"We have had constructive discussions with Finance Minister Temenuzhka Petkova," the Labour Minister added.

The United Pensioners' Unions (UPU) association Wednesday said that its members are organizing mass protests against the government’s 2025 State Budget Bill, which at first envisaged a pension increase of only 5%. In a statement released to the media, UPU stressed that instead of the expected increase of 8 to 9%, PM Rosen Zhelyazkov’s cabinet intends to raise pensions by just 5% in 2025, which, UPU claims, violates the so-called Swiss rule – a law that ties pension increases to inflation and wage growth, and undermines the already low living standards of approximately 2 million Bulgarian pensioners.

Later on Wednesday, after consultations within the Joint Governance Council, it has been decided that the 2025 State Budget Bill, which will be tabled by the Council of Ministers to the National Assembly, will have an increase in pensions from July 1 applying the Swiss rule for all pensioners, GERB-UDF Deputy Floor Leader Denitsa Sacheva told a joint briefing.

According to the Swiss rule, pensions are adjusted annually by 50% of the previous year's inflation and 50% of the growth in the average contributory income.