Deputy PM says pension reform to ensure sound pension adjustment

MOSCOW, Aug 31 (PRIME) -- The coming pension reform will allow the government to adjust pensions to a level above inflation in the next six years and beyond 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova said at a PRIME news conference on Friday.

“By 2024, an average pension will amount to slightly over 20,000 rubles. What will happen next? The president asked, ordered in his address (earlier this week) that the mechanism should be elaborated and included into law… Pensions will also rise at a higher-than-inflation pace beyond 2024,” she said.

The effect from reform will total 2.9 trillion rubles during six years after it is implemented in 2019 while pension payments will stand at 3.3 trillion rubles, the official said.

She added that the figures do not include initiatives proposed by President Vladimir Putin, but all his pension reform initiatives are backed financially.

Golikova said that stricter sanctions over firing people of pre-retirement age are aimed at protecting their interests and preventing age discrimination, including discrimination often implied by vacancy advertisements.

“The president’s proposals on administrative and possible criminal sanctions against employers take into account people’s concerns (about possible discrimination) to protect an individual, an employee,” she said.

Putin suggested softening the pension reform by cutting the retirement age for women to 60 years from 63 proposed by the government and keeping it at 65 for men.

(68.0821 rubles – U.S. $1)

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