Pensions will be raised on February 1, not April Fools Day as originally planned. The minimum retirement pension will be at least 58 hryvnias. Pension Fund Chairman Borys Zaichuk, said “authoritatively” during a call-in that the funds are there. According to him, last year’s UAH 1.3 billion pension arrears have been paid off, and pension money is now being actively accumulated. The fund received over UAH 1.5 billion in December alone and about 700 million in the first weeks of the new year, with UAH 1.3 billion being the monthly requirement. Last year, he explained, the Pension Fund’s receipts increased by UAH 2,765,200,000, or 27.3%, from the previous year and are now almost UAH 13 billion.
“The main purpose of the expected pension rise is to differentiate payments, at least to some extent, on the basis of seniority, age, and Pension Fund deductions,” Mr. Zaichuk declared. He added that those who will benefit most from a 10-20% pension rise will be those who worked hard, including miners, and the poorest pensioners. Mr. Zaichuk put the positive changes down to the improved economic situation in this country, in particular, the payment of wages and salaries, the main source of pension fund earnings. What also helped to improve the pension situation were the decrees to personify pension payments and to make banks bear liability for untimely and disproportionate transfer of funds to the Pension Fund.
Most of those calling in were eager to know when parliament will pass the law on the assessment of pensions on the basis of seniority and the size of wages and salaries. (Mr. Zaichuk assured callers it is planned to discuss a bill on mandatory state pension insurance at the next Verkhovna Rada session). Will retired military servicemen see their pensions raised? Yes, but only private soldiers, as far as the fund is concerned, the chairman replied. Why are pensions not being remitted to research associates? The answer was that the delay was caused by the absence of “instruments,” that is, a resolution on the procedure of paying the money. Why do 2.5 million pensioners work, while unemployed young people cannot find a job? This is a rhetorical question. A mixed reaction was caused by a call from Khmelnytsky that, after under-UAH 100 pensions had been recalculated, every pensioner supposedly also had one hryvnia deducted “for the New Year illumination of Kyiv.”
Yet, the main question pensioners put, often through barely hidden tears, to the Pension Fund head was how one could possibly live on 58-90 hryvnias, when the official sustenance level is 318 hryvnias. How can one live, running up thousands of hryvnias in debt for public utilities, or pay for medical care on such a meager pension? The questions was left hanging in the air.
