Prishtina, 7 October, 2024
In a media conference, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, together with the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, presented the decision to increase pensions.
“Today I have the pleasure to give you good news to all pensioners. Starting from this month, i.e. October 2024, we will increase all pensions by 20% as follows: Basic Age Pension; Contributory Pension, Full and Partial; Disability Pension, for Children and Adults; Pension for the Blind; Pension for Paraplegic and Tetraplegic Persons; Family Pension; Invalid Labor Pension; Early Retirement for Trepca workers.” said the prime minister.
He added that from January 2025, i.e. for less than 3 months, the pensions defined by the law for war categories will increase by 20%, namely, the families of martyrs, invalids, veterans, members of the Kosovo Liberation Army , victims of war sexual violence, civilian victims and their families.
“In these categories, for the families of the martyrs of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the missing of the KLA, who have more than one martyr or missing, the pension formula will also be changed, increasing it by 50% of the pension basis for every martyr or other missing person that the family has, and not to increase by 20% or 10% as it has been until now. The same formula will be used for the families of civilian victims and missing persons, where for every other victim or missing person in the family, the pension will be increased by 50% of the basic pension.” said the prime minister.
For his part, the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, said that this change affects a number of 304,016 beneficiaries who will be affected by this increase, while the overall budget impact for the entire fiscal year is expected to be in the amount of 100 additional million euros.
Prime Minister Kurti’s complete speech:
Dear Media,
Dear citizens,
During the past two days, as the governing cabinet, we had the opportunity, within the extended meeting of the General Council of the VETËVENDOSJE! Movement, to present the achievements, but also the challenges that have defined our governing mandate this term.
What stood out, was that in addition to numerous achievements, it can be said that we also had the largest number of challenges that we have faced as a government, compared to all other previous governments.
First it was the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, which we successfully defeated by vaccinating the vast majority of the population in record time, but at the same time we had to support the country’s economy and families to overcome it as easily as possible.
Then we had Russia’s unprovoked aggression in Ukraine, which caused a series of negative effects globally. From the energy crisis, which managed to bring many developed countries to their knees, to the increase in the prices of food products.
In both cases, as a government we made sure to support those most in need by subsidizing electricity, home insulation, and providing additional support in the form of lump sum payments, always keeping in mind the unstable situation, but also being careful not to worsen the inflationary situation even further.
We increased salaries in the public sector, together with the new salary law, but we also approved the new minimum salary at the level of 350 euros for the private sector.
We also doubled child allowances and even tripled them for families with 3 or more children.
We also took special care of pensioners all the time, first by offering pension increases so that no pension was below 100 euros, and then by distributing 4 times one-off supplements of 100 euros to all pensioners, so that even a little the burden that had caused the global effects of successive crises was eased.
Now that the inflation situation has softened, falling to 1.4% in August, and the country’s economy is returning to the pace of growth where we started after the pandemic, we can say that we are swimming in calmer waters and that we can do more sustainable budget planning.
Therefore, today I am pleased to give you good news to all pensioners.
Starting from this month, i.e. October 2024, we will increase all pensions by 20% as follows:
– Basic Age Pension;
– Contributory Pension, Full and Partial;
– Disability Pension, for Children and Adults;
– Pension for the Blind;
– Pension for Paraplegic and Tetraplegic Persons;
– Family Pension;
– Invalid Labor Pension;
– Early Retirement for Trepca workers.
Meanwhile, from January 2025, i.e. for less than 3 months, the pensions defined by the law for war categories will increase by 20%, namely, the families of martyrs, invalids, veterans, members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, victims of war sexual violence, civilian victims and their families. This is because the table that is part of the law as an Appendix must also be changed to change these pensions.
In these categories, for the families of the martyrs of the Kosovo Liberation Army and the missing of the KLA, who have more than one martyr or missing, the pension formula will also be changed, increasing it by 50% of the basic pension for every martyr or other missing person that the family has, and not to increase by 20% or 10% as it has been until now. The same formula will be used for the families of civilian victims and missing persons, where for every other victim or missing person in the family, the pension will be increased by 50% of the basic pension.
Naturally, our work to increase pensioner support does not end there. It continues even further, specifically with our work towards the completion of the pension reform, which will ensure that those who contributed the most to this country, have the appropriate treatment.
Thank you!
Last modified: October 8, 2024