Serbia Pensions: October 2 Payout, 7.5% Rise in December

Payment of September pensions begins October 2, when the first group to be paid is the self-employed category, regardless of which payment method they chose. That is the opening date in the calendar the Republic Pension and Disability Insurance Fund (PIO Fund) published on September 26, with the schedule running through October 12.

Four days after that first date, on October 6, military and agricultural pensioners get paid, regardless of whether they collect their pension through a checking account, at their home address or at a post office counter. Working pensioners who collect through a checking account are paid on October 10, while those who collect at home or at a post office counter are paid on October 12. Pensioners living in states that emerged from the former Yugoslavia receive their payment starting October 9.

The average August pension, according to a figure the PIO Fund published on September 24, was 56,813 dinars.

Ognjenovic Announces 7.5% Increase in December

The payment schedule was published ahead of an informational event the PIO Fund held on September 27 in the Belgrade neighborhood of Borca. Alongside local pensioners, the event was attended by caretaker Finance Minister Sinisa Mali, PIO Fund director Relja Ognjenovic, Serbian Pensioners’ Union president Andreja Savic and Palilula municipality president Ivana Medic.

Ognjenovic confirmed at the event that pensioners had received all the aid the state had promised them, and announced that pensions paid in December will be 7.5 percent higher. According to B92, Mali said the same day that public sector salaries will also rise from December 1, by 8 percent, while workers in social protection will get a 12 percent increase.

Ognjenovic also explained why ministers attend the PIO Fund’s municipal events:

At almost every one of these events we have ministers as guests, and at every one a representative of local government, which shows a kind of teamwork and a wish to solve problems together.

Aid Already Paid Out

Ahead of the event, Mali told reporters that more than 250 factories have opened in Serbia over the past several years and that, he said, every promise on raising salaries, pensions and the minimum wage had been kept. He noted that a support package worth 980.6 million euros had been fully carried out the previous week.

Part of that package was one time aid for the oldest citizens: depending on the size of their pension, pensioners received 35,000, 27,500 or 20,000 dinars on September 14, and the aid also went to recipients of cash social assistance, child allowance and veteran allowance. Starting September 22, a one time payment of 6,000 dinars was made to all adult citizens who qualified for it or applied, and Mali said between five and six million people received it.

“And the last part of that large package: on Thursday, at a session of the Government of Serbia, a decree on the energy vulnerable customer was adopted,” Mali said.

After the event, Mali also shared his personal impressions from the meeting in Borca on Instagram:

Spending time with wonderful ladies today in Borca! Thank you for your company and your energy! With people like this, Serbia wins.

In the same post, he said that without pensioners, Serbia would not be where it is today, on the roads, on the railways, and in the new hospitals, health centers and schools built in the meantime.

What Remains Unclear

Neither Mali nor Ognjenovic specified at the event what base the announced 7.5 percent increase applies to, that is, whether it refers to growth compared to the average August pension of 56,813 dinars or to some other reference figure. The exact date of the higher December pension payment has also not been announced; the PIO Fund has not released it so far.