Pension

National Liberal Party (PNL) chairman Ludovic Orban said on Wednesday evening that the Liberals support the increase in pensions, but based on a "stable, predictable" mechanism, on "objective elements". "We attacked the Pension Law at the Constitutional Court (CCR) and the CCR proved us right, declaring the Pension Law unconstitutional.

From 1 July, the purchasing power of pensioners will increase due to the modernization of pensions with a record 5.7%. This was calculated by the Minister of Labor and Social Policy, Bisera Petkov, before Nova TV.

About 1,500 people so far have stated that they wish their pensions to be calculated according to the old formula, which includes the 3 best years of their insurance before 1997.

The National Social Security Institute declares that Bulgaria's average insured income in April 2019 is BGN 991.12. This was announced by the Institute's press center.

The average monthly insurance income for the country for the period from 01.05.2018 to 30.04.2019 is BGN 920.83.

Over the last 10 years the average pension in Bulgaria has increased and the number of pensioners has decreased, according to NSSI data. The increase of the average pension is 102 leva - from 234 to 332 leva. For the same period, the number of pensioners has decreased by 50 thousand.

Does anyone object to higher pensions? Such innocent-sounding cliches are nothing but a veil for policy that is purely self-serving.

In one of the recent amendments tabled by the government, National Bank will have to pay more than 200 million euros into its employees' auxiliary pension fund, a measure that will only benefit current pensioners.

Pensioners remain in the dark about the recalculation of their pensions according to the 2016 law, as they have not yet been notified by the Labor and Social Security Ministry about their so-called personal difference - i.e. the part of their pension that is likely to be cut.

Mandatory private pension funds in Romania had assets worth over 52.26 billion lei on 30 April 2019, up 21.42 percent from the same level of the previous year, according to the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) data. Government securities made up the largest share of the assets, of 30.06 billion lei, respectively 57.52 percent. Shares came in second, at 9.96 billion lei (19.07 percent).

The Government has decided a new way of calculating the minimum share capital of private pension funds, Minister of Public Finance Eugen Teodorovici announced on Thursday.

Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras on Tuesday sounded the alarm over the cost of social security, warning that the margins are "extremely narrow" for pensions to continue being paid out of the state budget.