From January 1 of the following year, through regular adjustment, pensions could be increased by a maximum of 40 percent of pensioners in Montenegro, that is, about 44 thousand, because the remaining about 70 thousand will receive the same guaranteed amount of 450 euros, according to statistical data from the website Pension and disability insurance fund.
On the billboards of the Evopa Sad Movement, which are being put up now as part of the campaigns for local elections, the promise "Increase of all pensions by 50 to 60 euros from January 1, 2025" is written, however, only when journalists directly ask them if this increase relations for all pensioners, like Acting Director of the PIO Fund Vladimir Drobnjak last week at RTCG and Prime Minister Milojko Spajić at the press conference three days ago, then they say that the increase applies to everyone except for those receiving the minimum pension.
At the end of last year, when the Parliament adopted amendments to the PIO Act, which increased the limit of the minimum pension to 450 euros, an article was added stating that regular quarterly adjustments will not apply to users of minimum pensions until the beginning of 2026.
Calculation of the minimum
This has been implemented since January this year. Since then, the PIO Fund has been keeping double records - it calculates the actual pension for the beneficiary according to his coefficients, as well as the part they add to that amount to get 450 euros.
For example, if someone's actual pension is 400 euros and through regular adjustment it increases by two percent, it will amount to 408 euros and the Fund will add 42 euros. If, through the next adjustment, his actual pension increases by another ten euros, he still receives 450 euros, only the state adds 10 euros less. When his actual pension reaches 450 euros, the state no longer adds anything to him and his income grows through regular adjustments.
In January of this year, 74 thousand pensioners received a guaranteed amount of 450 euros, and there are a total of 114 thousand pensioners in Montenegro. That is, in that month, the regular adjustment was valid for 40 pensioners. In the meantime, the number of beneficiaries of the minimum pension has decreased, and in July there were 72 thousand of them, partly due to the fact that for some, due to two quarterly adjustments, the actual amount of the pension exceeded the amount of 450 euros.
Due to this double keeping of records on beneficiaries of the minimum pension, until January there are two average pensions - the average calculated, which includes the actual amounts of pensions, and the average paid, which also includes part of the pension added by the state so that the beneficiaries would have 450 euros.
Thus, in January, the average calculated pension amounted to 488 euros, while the average paid with an addition to the amount up to the minimum pension was 509,3 euros. At that time, in as many as six municipalities, the average calculated pension was below the minimum pension. Similar figures are reported for the following months, so for July the average pension (without the calculated supplement) was 495,13 euros, while the average paid with calculated differences was 515,55 euros.
According to the laws on PIO, pensions are adjusted three times a year (January 1, May 1 and September 1) with the growth of inflation and gross earnings, compared to the previous four months. The adjustment is made by multiplying the higher percentage (whether of gross salary growth or inflation) by 0,75 and the lower percentage by 0,25, then the two numbers are added and their sum represents the adjustment percentage.
Current pensioners have a problem because over the past three years, due to tax cuts, gross wages, which are used in their formula, have grown much more slowly than net earnings. Even now, due to the reduction in salary contributions, the average gross salary will increase by an expected 10 percent (from 1.070 to an expected 1.180 euros), and the average net salary by about 20 percent (from 850 to a little over 1.000 euros).
So, in this formula for the January adjustment, the percentage of gross salary growth of 10 percent multiplied by 0,75 would be used, and a figure of 7,5 percent would be obtained.
The impact of inflation on the increase in wages for these four months will be minor or even negative if the Government's action on limiting prices is successful and it leads to deflation. This campaign started last week and will last until the end of January next year, that is, it will cover almost the last four months of the year. The difference between the average inflation in those four months and the average inflation in the previous four months of this year (May, June, July and August) will be used to calculate the adjustment of pensions.
If Monstat does not determine deflation during the Government's action to limit margins, pensioners who receive more than 450 euros could count on an increase of about 7,5 percent
Monstat calculates the growth of the average gross salary and inflation, and then submits this data to the PIO Fund's board of directors, which formally makes a decision on the pension adjustment percentage during January and begins paying them around February 20.
Monstat has not yet sent the data to the PIO Fund for the adjustment of pensions that should follow in September of this year, but, according to "Vijesti" information, it will do so by the end of the month or at the beginning of October, which is within the stipulated deadlines because the payment of the September pension begins on the 20th. October.
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