The Labour Ministry has been preparing a change to the rules for private pensions within the second pension pillar, excluding thousands of citizens from this form of saving.
The Hospodárske Noviny economic daily wrote in its Wednesday, July 10 issue that the ministry wants to set a 1,900-euro minimum limit for these pensions, which would effectively bar those who save less from contributing to the second pillar. The Labour Ministry refused to comment on the changes, calling discussion of them premature.
However, the first old-age pensions should be paid from the second pillar as early as 2015, and if these changes were applied, about 6,000 savers older than 55 would not have their pensions paid out from this pillar. Their savings would most likely be transferred to the Sociálna poisťovňa state social insurer and would be added to the pensions financed by state. The other possibility is to have their money paid in several instalments. Insiders have said, however, that €1,900 is the minimum amount needed for long-term pension contributions to be profitable, and most of the savers will have saved substantially higher amounts anyway.
The old-age pension scheme currently rests on three pillars: the first, state-run, pay-as-you-go pillar; the second, private, capitalisation pillar; and the third, voluntary, supplementary pillar. The scheme has undergone repeated changes since major pension reform was unveiled.
(Source: Hospodárske noviny)
Compiled by Zuzana Vilikovská from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
