This week, the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted amendments to the Law on Pension Disability Insurance, which should be presented to the Parliament at the beginning of next year. writes BHRT.
These are legal solutions that provide for regular harmonization pension with the growth of wages and living costs, twice a year, which, according to estimates, should bring some relief for pensioners in a time of increasingly pronounced price increases.
The key innovation relates to the way pension increases are calculated.
As explained, one adjustment would be made in January, based on parameters from the previous year, while the other would be in July, according to the growth of salaries and living costs in the first six months of the current year.
Halilović: Total increase between 17 and 17.6 percent
Haso Halilović, the deputy president of the FBiH Pensioners’ Association, points out that, according to current estimates, the total increase is between 17 and 17.6 percent.
“One will be in January, when the parameters will be taken from 2025, and the second will be in July, when the parameters will be taken for the growth of wages and living costs for the first six months of 2026. It is expected, suma summarum, based on current estimates, that it will be 17, 17.2 or 17.6 percent,” said Halilović.
For about 220,000 pensioners who receive the minimum pension, this would mean an increase of about 65 marks.
However, many point out that this is far from enough to cover basic living expenses.
“Minimum pension. If we pay for the medicine first, then we pay the obligations, what’s left for us, that’s it,” says one pensioner.
Another adds that they manage as they know how.
“We stretch somehow to buy coal and wood and so on. He has dementia, I go to get medicine, I go to the pensioners’ association, he needs those diapers…”
The third interlocutor says that it is almost impossible to survive without the help of the family.
“If you have someone to help you, then it’s easier. If you don’t, then you make ends meet. It can’t be any other way.”
Union of Pensioners of Tuzla: All that is nothing again
The Union of Pensioners of the City of Tuzla warns that increases that do not reduce the difference between the lowest and the highest pension cannot solve key problems.
Union President Muhamed Ramić believes that the increase in pensions does not follow the real increase in the cost of living.
“All that is nothing again. Now after the New Year, prices will go up even more. As much as they increase, they cannot even cover the consumer basket with price increases,” says Ramić, adding that the differences between pensioners remain huge.
“He now, let’s say, with 17 percent, the highest pension will get a 600 mark increase, and the one with the minimum will get 100 marks. He gets one minimum pension increase.”
Halilović points out that the proposed changes are currently a realistic compromise between the possibilities of the system and the needs of pensioners.
“This is now a real thing that was acceptable for the Government and for the pensioners and for the sustainability of the pension fund, because we have reached a critical mass of the number of workers and the number of pensioners. In the coming years, there must be a fight and there must be a hundred percent increase in pensions with the increase in wages, not a few percent more,” he said.
The Association of Pensioners of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that the changes to the law will represent an important step forward in the fight for a dignified life for older citizens, but they warn that there is no permanent solution without long-term economic and social measures.
As key problems, they point out the need to suppress illegal work, regular tax payments and strengthening the pension fund so that it remains stable and functional in the long term.
