Pensioners without pensions

Pension is a regular cash income paid to persons who have reached retirement age. Until recently, this definition was extended to Azerbaijan, before the amendments to the law "On Pension" were not adopted.

According to the amendments, the basic part of the pension, paid from the state budget to all citizens who have reached the retirement age, regardless of length of service, has been eliminated. Now you can get a pension with 25 years of work experience and pension capital of 15,800 manats (before that you could get a pension after 12 years of experience). But it was not enough for the MPs, and they raised the retirement age for both sexes to 65 years. True, this will be done gradually, increasing the retirement age by six months each year. Remember the well-known expressions: the new pension reform of the government, everything is losing weight and a short life is the key to the prosperity of the pension fund.

It is not known what the MPs were guided by, adopting amendments to the law, but not exactly the world practice. Even in the period of the notorious perestroika, when the iron curtain collapsed, and Western prosperity became evident, Soviet pensioners watched enviously the life of overseas and European weather. For 30 years nothing has changed. In the United States, you can regularly make a contribution to the pension fund for 10 years by earning a fairly decent pension (at least $ 800), and there also more than 700.000 various pension programs in the US. If a citizen receives a pension below the subsistence minimum, a social program that adds a certain amount comes to the rescue. In Germany, where, unlike in Azerbaijan, the basic part of the pension was not abolished, people are paid at least 324 euros to reach the retirement age and in addition to this amount the person receives money for housing, heating, and housing repairs. In Azerbaijan, after the last pension "reform", an elderly citizen can count on maximum 55 manats - an old-age benefit.

According to the economist Neymat Aliyev, the authorities announced last year the liquidation of the basic part of the pension by age: "It was decided to replace the basic part of the pension by indexing the pension according to the level of inflation in the country. These intentions began to be implemented after the relevant decree of the head of state. The decision to liquidate the basic part of the pension does not meet the Azerbaijani reality. If the social situation of citizens were good enough, then these changes could be applied. However, in the current conditions such a decision is unacceptable. Since the end of 2014, the social situation of the inhabitants of the country is deteriorating. Poor families and pensioners have especially low solvency. Solvency is reduced because, the growth rates of prices outstrip the growth rates of salaries and pensions. How can we eliminate the basic part of pensions in such conditions? This reform means that the majority of citizens, having reached the retirement age, will not be able to receive a pension. Because the newly introduced rules (25-year pension capital in total amounting to 15,800 manats) do not correspond to the real situation. Certainly, someone will meet these requirements, but the majority of the able-bodied population is deprived of this opportunity, since many work unofficially and receive a small salary. The unemployment rate in the country is very high. According to our calculations, compiled on the basis of official statistics, about 1 million people are unemployed. This is at a time when the authorities claim only 5% of the unemployed, "the expert said.

According to the economist, raising the retirement age is an additional problem: "This further exacerbates an already tense situation. The government increased the retirement age, liquidated the basic part of the pension and complicated the procedure for obtaining a pension. This suggests that almost all the able-bodied population is doomed to an old-age benefit of 50 manats. There is no such thing abroad. In different countries, different procedures, however, in any case there are no laws that impair the social position of the population, especially pensioners. Compared to Azerbaijani pensioners, Western pensioners seem to be quite wealthy people," N.Aliyev stressed. -0