They write different formulas for determining the minimum wage
Serbia and S. Macedonia with a higher minimum wage than ours
It will take us 100 years to reach the EU countries, said Asen Vassilev
The executive director of AIKB, Dobrin Ivanov, requested that the retirement age be increased and the contributions to the private universal pension funds, which provide for working people born after the end of 1959, be increased. It is necessary to increase the retirement age, as well as to increase the weight of the second pillar of the pension insurance, because the cost-saving system will crash in the medium term, he said. Dobrin Ivanov participated in a meeting of the National Council for Tripartite Cooperation, where employers’ organizations and trade unions discussed the draft budget for 2024 with representatives of the Council of Ministers.
A pension reform is necessary, which should be the result of a broad public discussion, said Dobrin Ivanov. I do not adopt an approach for radical pension reform, including for parameters such as the retirement age, replied Plamen Dimitrov, president of KNSB. The increase in the retirement age will not go without a reaction, he added. Currently, the Social Security Code provides for the retirement age to increase annually until it reaches 65 for both women and men. The insurance contributions for the second pillar in the pension system may be increased, but not at the expense of the state social insurance, Plamen Dimitrov also said.
Employers did not approve raising the minimum wage by nearly 20% from January 1, 2024 to BGN 933. Labor productivity grew by only 1.7%, inflation was 5.8%, and these are factors that should influence the minimum wage, motivated Dobrin Ivanov. But Lyuboslav Kostov from KNSB said that even in Germany, labor productivity did not increase by more than 1%, but this did not prevent them from significantly raising the minimum wage, because the wage played only a small role in productivity. Another formula is needed to determine the minimum wage, Dobrin Ivanov also stated.
When we joined the EU, we were close to Romania in terms of economic development, but then we fell behind, commented Finance Minister Asen Vassilev. He argued that this was due to the small amount of investment. At the moment, we are catching up with the EU countries by 1-1.5% per year, and we will need another 100 years to catch up, said Asen Vassilev. And the reason for this is the lack of investment. Among the reasons for this is that the environment for doing business is bureaucratic, the cost of labor is low and companies do not have the funds to invest, he explained. For the last three years, the cost of labor has increased by 39%, but despite this, the business manages to make investments and achieve growth in labor productivity. We are discussing accelerated depreciation for investments in machinery, the minister also said.
In our country, the minimum wage for next year will be BGN 933. Now in Montenegro it is BGN 1,042, in North Macedonia it is BGN 946, in Serbia it is BGN 1,070, and in Romania it is BGN 1,296, said Asen Vassilev. He said there could be a little more flexibility in setting the minimum wage, but the formation of ghettos in backward areas should not be allowed. And this is exactly what will happen if the gap between the minimum and average wages is opened.
During the meeting, the employers supported the proposal to maintain the minimum and maximum daily unemployment compensation in 2024. But from the words of Minister Vasilev, it became clear that the maximum compensation can be increased.
85% discount on medicines
Dispute about the maximum insurance income
Money control
Drug dealers buy them at an 85% discount, and the health fund pays 100% of the price.
We do not agree that the maximum insurance income (MOD) should increase to BGN 3,750, said Dobrin Ivanov from AIKB. According to the net, a mechanism is needed to determine the MOD within certain limits, and the executive power to decide on its specific amount. For 2024, the fair amount of the maximum insurance income is BGN 3,650, said Dobrin Ivanov. According to Tsvetan Simeonov, chairman of the BCPP, the MOD should be determined by a formula according to inflation and the average insurance income, and for 2024 it should be BGN 3,566.
Raising the maximum insurance income together with the growth of the average insurance income is good for people with high salaries, commented Ivaylo Ivanov, manager of the National Insurance Institute. The amount of pensions is determined by the ratio of a person’s personal insurance income to the national average. When insuring on a higher income, a person will also receive a higher pension, but for this purpose the maximum pension must also increase.
It is not normal for a person to travel 50 km to go to a hospital, said Atanas Katsarchev, Chief Economist of KT Podkrepa. He explained that they buy medicines with an 85% discount on the price, and the health insurance fund covers 100% of the price stated by the traders. Thus, from the very beginning, they form a profit of 85%. So he called for tighter controls on health care money.
2023-11-22 08:11:00
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