The government is not planning any more changes to the second (capitalisation) pillar of pension system, PM Robert Fico said on the Slovak Radio (SRo) on February 23 as quoted by the SITA newswire.
The government is also not considering changing the ratio of contributions between the first (pay-as-you-go pillar) and the second, which is currently 9:9 percent of the gross income. It is also not going to increase the retirement age, Fico said.
"We guarantee that the second pension pillar is here to stay in its current form," Fico said.
He added that any serious alteration of the pension system would be impossible without a wider political consensus. Therefore, his government would not make fundamental changes that affect millions of future pensioners simply because it has a majority in parliament.
The shape of the first pillar, which is administered by the state-run social security provider Sociálna Poisťovňa, won’t fundamentally change either, he said.
The previous government under Mikuláš Dzurinda introduced the second pillar as part of an extensive pension reform in January 2005. Since then, more than 1.5 million savers have enrolled in it.
Based on legislation passed by the Fico government, pension savers have from January 1 to June 30 of this year to exit the second pillar and return to the first. SITA
Compiled by Jana Liptáková from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
