The Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, at today’s emergency session, held by telephone, got acquainted with and agreed to the Decision of the Management Board of the Federal Institute for Pension and Disability Insurance on advance adjustment of pensions in accordance with Article 79 of the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance. It is about the advance adjustment of pensions by 11.1 percent from January 2023.

FBiH Prime Minister Fadil Novalić thanked the representatives in the House of Representatives and the delegates in the House of Peoples of the Federal Parliament for recognizing the importance of adopting the federal budget for this year.

– This enabled the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina to fulfill its promise to increase pensions by 11.1 percent from January 1. I want to inform the pensioners that we have just held an emergency session of the Government of the Federation, and made the necessary decision so that the January pensions, increased by 11.1 percent, would be paid on time. This is the largest single increase in pensions in the Federation so far. I am glad that we came to this solution in time to enable our pensioners to receive payment in advance. Today we can definitely confirm to them that they will not wait – said the Prime Minister of the Federation of BiH, Fadil Novalić.

He reminded that pensions were increased four times in the last ten months, which had a significant impact on the improvement of the position of pensioners in view of the price increase crisis that we are all suffering.

– In April last year, 7 percent, in June 3.5 percent, then five percent for the lowest pensions in November, and now it’s 11.1 percent. I will mention that all this is a consequence of the adoption of the Law on PIO from 2018, which definitely enabled the pension fund to be “healed”. If we look back, we will see that from 2018 until today, the law was so socially oriented that the lowest pensions increased by more than half, by 52 percent, from 326 to 495 KM, while during that time the highest pensions did not increase at all. This time they will also increase for the first time, because the legal clause of the ratio of one to five has been reached. With this, we significantly made the fund social. In addition to the fact that we have liquidity in the Federation and that we have adopted the Federation Budget, I can say that pensioners are those who have been and will remain the priority of the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – emphasized Prime Minister Novalić.

Deputy Prime Minister and Federal Minister of Labor and Social Policy Vesko Drljača also thanked the representatives for recognizing a very sensitive point and having enough sensitivity to take care of pensioners.

– Caring for pensioners is one of the priorities in the work of the FBiH Government, as well as the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy itself. This is our obligation because we simply know how vulnerable that category is and what problems they have. We want to help and protect that category. In the second part of last year, there was very high inflation, which significantly threatened the standard, and it was necessary to react in a certain way. In this sense, today’s decision of the Government, giving consent to the Decision of the Management Board of the Federal Institute of PIO on the advance adjustment of 11.1 percent, represents the continuity of the Government’s activities. The final harmonization will be carried out on April 15, as prescribed by law – said Minister Drljača.

He added that it is currently not possible to prejudge how much the final adjustment will be, but that after that the difference compared to 11.1 percent will be paid retroactively from January 1.

– We know that the adjustment formula is the growth of consumer prices and the growth of the gross social product, and in this sense we are implementing the provisions of Article 79 of the law. The basis for adjusting pensions is the pension that was paid out in December last year, and an increase of 11.1 percent is determined on that amount – said Minister Drljača.

The decision of the Management Board of the Federal PIO Institute, to which the Government gave its consent today, stipulates that the adjustment of pensions in accordance with the Law on Pension and Disability Insurance in 2023 will be carried out in two parts, in such a way that the adjustment of pensions will be carried out on an advance basis in January 2023, and the final adjustment on April 15, 2023. This percentage increase represents an advance payment, and the decision on adjusting pensions in 2023 will be made after the Federal Bureau of Statistics publishes data on consumer price growth in 2022, as well as GDP growth for 2022.

Also, in this decision, it was established that the basis for the increase is the pension that belonged to the beneficiary for the month of December 2022, as well as that the advance adjustment will be applied from 1 January 2023. years.

We remind you that at the meeting of the Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the relevant minister with the representatives of the Association of Pensioners of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, a decision was agreed that pensions should be increased on an advance basis from January 1, 2023, i.e. upon the adoption of the FBiH Budget for this