CNIPMMR proposes pensions smaller than 800 lei increase, those over 5,000 lei capped

CNIPMMR representatives propose a 40 pct increase of pensions between 500 and 800 lei, which represents a budget effort of 1.3 billion euro annually, that may be supported, given the annual economic growth, while the pensions over 5,000 lei can be capped, said, on Monday, Florin Jianu, chairman of the National Council for Small and Medium-sized Private Enterprises of Romania (CNIPMMR).

"We made an analysis of the pensions and reached the following conclusion. There are 1.8 million pensioners with a pension between 500 and 800 lei, of the total of 3 million and something pensioners. An effort of 40 pct for this category, on average 300 lei net as an increase, would mean a budget effort of 1.3 billion euro annually, which is not an unsustainable budget effort, if we look at the annual economic growth. Still, there needs to be a serious discussion regarding this subject of increasing pensions because I don't know how many people can live off a pensions between 500 and 800 lei. So we must look at this category that represents half of all pensioners in Romania. Certainly, the increase should decrease as the total of the pensions increases. We also made a proposal to increase by 200 lei net pensions between 800 and 1,500 lei (1.9 million pensioners), representing a budget effort of approximately 965 million euro per year," Florin Jianu mentioned.

Furthermore, CNIPMMR representatives propose freezing pensions over 5,000 lei, the financial effort for this category being the greatest for this category which represents around 10,000 pensioners.

"What pensions do we desire to increase? Do we increase everything and all? Do we increase pensions over 5,000 lei, meaning almost double against the average wage per economy or do we look towards people really in need? Our objective is to bring as many pensions as possible to the 2,000-2,500 lei area," the CNIPMMR chair said.

Florin Jianu emphasized that this analysis must also be performed by the state authorities. AGERPRES