SERBIA - Serbia is planning to raise its state retirement age by five years and create a pension register for all employees over the next 10 years.
A bill is to be presented to parliament by the end of the month as part of an agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), to ensure fiscal stability of the country. (See earlier IPE story: Pensions should be top priority in CEE, says IMF)
In order to reach its goal of cutting net spending on pensions to 10% of GDP, from 13% in 2009, the Serbian government will introduce various changes in a step-by-step approach until 2020.
The freeze on pension indexation will continue in 2010 and the practice will only be resumed in April 2011, in a bid to contain net spending to 12.25% of GDP this year.
The retirement age will slowly be raised from 53 to 58 years and the extra pension credits attached to certain employment groups will also be phased out, bar a few exceptions.
"However, as demographic and migration trends become clearer over the next few years, additional parametric reforms of retirement ages, minimum contribution periods, and early retirement incentives are likely to have to be considered," said the government.
"We also plan to strengthen contribution collection efficiency, by registration of all social security payers in a single central registry," it added.
No further information has been given as yet, however, on plans to introduce a mandatory second pillar in the country. (See earlier IPE story: Serbia mulls second pillar)
According to officials at Societe Generale's Serbian branch, "there is still no reliable information regarding the eventual introduction of the second pillar".
If you have any comments you would like to add to this or any other story, contact Julie Henderson on + 44 (0)20 7261 4602 or email julie.henderson@ipe.com
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