The minimum retirement pension should be BGN 250 from July 1 next year, the parliament finally voted, BTA reported.
On Tuesday evening, due to a scandal which erupted during the vote on the proposals of the individual parliamentary groups, the vote on the text was postponed until yesterday.
The majority accepted the proposal of the governors for the minimum retirement pension to remain BGN 219.43 from January 1 to June 30 and to increase to BGN 250 from July 1 to December 31.
The opposition Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) criticized the proposed budget on the grounds that the planned increases were not sufficient. They offer the minimum insurable income to reach BGN 650, and the maximum – BGN 3900. BSP also insists that the minimum pension next year should be BGN 300, not BGN 250.
The increase in pensions from next year caused a serious discussion. BSP, Volya, and Ataka called for the fulfillment of the United Patriots’ promise since the beginning of the term for an increase of the minimum pension to BGN 300.
BSP has even demanded that if the minimum pension is increased, other pensions should increase by more than the pledged 6.7%.
The MRF commented that BGN 80 million will required for the minimum pension to become BGN 250, but explained that such funds are not budgeted, which creates a risk for violating the Public Finance Act, BNT reported
The daily minimum amount of unemployment benefit is BGN 9.00 and the maximum is BGN 74.29.