Pensioners may face further cuts in 2018

Auxiliary pensions appear headed for a fresh cut in 2018, as the single auxiliary social security fund (ETEAEP) will end 2017 with a deficit, against the small surplus originally forecast.

Crucially, while the ETEAEP budget for next year provides for a surplus of 176.01 million euros, expenditure on pensions will be reduced by 150 million euros.

Based on the latest social security laws introduced by former minister Giorgos Katrougalos and current minister Effie Achtsioglou, the new auxiliary pensions - when they are finally issued - will be reduced by 22 percent on average, with a cut of up to 18 percent expected to existing pensions in 2019. The provisions of the ETEAEP budget that Kathimerini has seen suggest that existing pensions might be cut as early as next year.

The single auxiliary social security fund is now projecting a deficit of 166.6 million euros for...

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