Gov’t expects pension increase in 2015

Hundreds of thousands of Georgia’s oldest residents will be offered more financial support thanks to a Government initiative to increase the state pension.

While the additional amount has not been outlined, a Government official said 1.36 billion GEL had been assigned to covering pensions in 2015.

On Tuesday Georgia’s Finance Minister Nodar Khaduri announced the minimum state pension would rise from 2015 but did not outline a precise growth rate.

While presenting a draft of the 2015 state budget at a Parliamentary committee hearing, the Finance Minister said the growth rate would be defined in the next two months when discussions on the document were finished.

Khaduri stressed the pension rise would also continue in 2016.

Chairman of the Parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee from ruling Georgian Dream coalition Davit Onoprishvili believed if the budget was revised, pensions would increase by five to 10 GEL at least.

"[A pension rise] will make it easier for the lawmakers to vote for the draft budget,” Onoprishvili said.

Khaduri’s announcement was met with criticism by opposition lawmakers who said the Government did not outline the resource it would use to finance the pension increase.

There are about 683,000 pensioners registered with the Georgian Social Service Agency, the state authority that overlooked social protection in Georgia. Women aged 60 and older and men over the age of 65 were eligible to receive the state pension.

Under the 2015 state budget, the Government planned to allocate 2.75 billion GEL to the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Affairs, with almost half of that funding, 1.36 billion GEL, assigned to cover pensions in 2015.

The minimum monthly age pension in Georgia was 150 GEL. Anywhere from 2-10 GEL was added monthly to that minimum allowance depending on the length of service.

The last time pensions increased in Georgia was in September 2013. At this time pensions rose from 125 GEL to 150 GEL after the Georgian Dream Coalition came into power. It was their pre-election promise to raise monthly pensions to liveable levels. The minimum subsistence level for a working-age male was 149 GEL at that time.