New pension calculation formula will not lead to pension cuts

Steps will be taken to ensure that not a single person's pension is lowered by revisions to the pension calculation rules that took effect at the start of 2019, Labour and Social Policy Minister Bisser Petkov said following an extraordinary meeting with Prime Minister Boyko Borrisov on 19^th of March.

It was convened because of the accumulated public tension a day after the National Social Security Institute (NSSI) released an assessment according to which the changes in the formula for pension calculations would lead to 37% of new pensioners receiving smaller pension than the one they would have received under the old rules.

Based on data on 67,881 insured persons who will qualify for state pensions in 2019, the NSSI assessment showed that 56.8% would get higher pensions and 11.9% would not be affected by the new rules. This is the effect of excluding the contributory income for 1997, 1998 and 1999 when calculating the individual coefficient of the persons to receive pensions after December 31, 2018.

After the meeting with the PM, it became clear that changes to the law would be proposed. Thus, when determining the amount of the pension, all three years from 1997 to 1999 inclusive will be taken into account, but only on the basis of the data from the personal pension register.