459,000 Pensioners Get 35,000 Dinars in Aid
Finance Minister Sinisa Mali reported that one-time aid payments were posted to accounts by 5 a.m. A total of 1.663 million pensioners and other recipients received between 20,000 and 35,000 dinars.
All one-time aid payments to pensioners and social welfare recipients had been posted to accounts by 5 a.m. on September 14, caretaker Finance Minister Sinisa Mali reported. The payment reached about 2 million citizens, and this part of the package is worth around 50 billion dinars, Tanjug reported.
The money reached pensioners, recipients of cash social assistance, recipients of child allowance, and war veterans. Mali said the one-time aid was made possible by budget revenues running higher than planned, without specifying which revenue lines exceeded projections.
Who gets how much
Aid for pensioners covers 1,663,000 recipients, with 377.2 million euros set aside for that category, according to figures reported by N1 and RTS. The amount depends on pension size and is split into three groups.
Pensioners with the lowest pensions, up to 31,092.11 dinars, receive 35,000 dinars. That group numbers about 459,000 people, mostly agricultural pensioners and recipients of pensions from independent business activity who are short part of the 15 years of service or the age of 65 needed for a full pension.
Pensioners with income between the minimum and average pension receive 27,500 dinars. That group has 548,060 recipients. Sources differ on the upper threshold for this group: the Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO Fund), as quoted by Espreso, puts it at 56,822 dinars, while N1 and RTS report 56,851 dinars.
Pensioners with above-average pensions receive 20,000 dinars, a group of 655,384 recipients.
Recipients of cash social assistance and child allowance, along with veterans who receive the veteran supplement, get 25,000 dinars each, while veterans without the supplement get 10,000 dinars, RTS reported.
No application was required. Payment was automatic for everyone who meets the criteria under existing records. The money can be withdrawn from accounts, with payment cards, and at ATMs, and about 150,000 pensioners whose pensions are normally delivered by mail carrier are receiving the aid through Serbia’s postal service, Posta Srbije.
Portal Srpske previously reported that the payout would begin on Monday, when the amounts had just been announced. Today the money actually arrived, and it is now known how many recipients fall into each group.
Next round: 6,000 dinars for all adult citizens
PIO Fund director Relja Ognjenovic said a day earlier, on September 13, at a forum for pensioners in Dobanovci, in the Surcin municipality, that everything is also ready for the next payout: aid of 6,000 dinars from the state’s Shareholding Fund.
From September 22 to 25, the one-time aid payment of 6,000 dinars will roll out successively to all adult citizens of Serbia.
Finance Minister Sinisa Mali delivered this message to reporters at the pensioner forum in Dobanovci on September 13, ahead of the start of his talks with pensioners.
For that payout, pensioners, recipients of social benefits, and veterans will not need to apply, nor will the roughly 4.3 million shareholders of the Shareholding Fund, who receive the aid automatically. Other adult citizens must check their status on the Treasury Administration portal and, if necessary, submit an application by midnight on September 21.
According to RTS figures, the entire aid package, including the 6,000 dinar payout, is worth 980.6 million euros. The same source states that pensions will rise 7.5 percent under the Swiss formula starting December 1, meaning the average pension should climb from its current 486 euros to around 520 euros.
The forum in Dobanovci, the last in a series of 57 such gatherings, was also attended by Serbian Pensioners’ Union President Andreja Savic and Surcin Municipality President Milos Dangubic, B92 reported.
