Spring bonus approved, up to 100 thousand lek for pensioners!

2024-12-21 08:55:24Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

As promised, just a few months after the year-end bonus, pensioners will have another reward ready, the value of which was approved the day before at a special government meeting.

The value of the 20 thousand lek monthly pension will be decisive in this case as well to differentiate the next reward. Thus, those with a pension equal to or above this band will benefit from a 5 thousand lek bonus, while the lowest pensions will receive 10 thousand. This decision will cost the state budget over 6 billion lek, while another 2.2 billion will be distributed to the most vulnerable categories of society.

More specifically, people receiving Economic Assistance, People with Disabilities (PWD), and their caregivers. In the third budget review, the Council of Ministers decided to provide an additional 1.4 billion lek for farmers to continue payments to beneficiaries from the National Scheme, and funds for local governments to pay off arrears were increased by 1.6 billion lek.

The Council of Ministers, in a special meeting on Thursday, approved the Normative Act for several changes to the State Budget for 2024, a decision that was made public the next day. Through the Minister of Finance, Petrit Malaj, more details were provided on the decision in question, which was taken after analyzing the performance of the economy and fiscal indicators for the period January - November 2024.

"On this eve of the end of the year, all our attention goes to supporting the most needy groups, mainly pensioners and low-income families. We will distribute 2.2 billion lek in the form of immediate rewards to some of the most vulnerable social categories," Malaj declared in a video distributed to the media.

According to the minister, specifically, all families receiving economic assistance, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), as well as their caregivers, will be beneficiaries of the 15,000 lek bonus, while he also touched on the spring bonus, the amount of which was determined by this regulatory act.

"On the other hand, we will implement the promise to guarantee the spring bonus, ensuring the creation of a special account at the Bank of Albania, in support of pensioners, to which a fund of 6.3 billion lek will be transferred," announced the minister, who added that in the spring, all pensioners whose monthly pension is under 20 thousand lek will benefit from a bonus of 10 thousand lek or 100 euros, and all pensioners whose monthly pension is over 20 thousand lek will benefit from a bonus of 5 thousand lek or 50 euros.

"With an additional fund of 1.4 billion lek, we will support farmers, ensuring continuous investment in one of the most priority sectors of the economy, agriculture," the minister added, while announcing that an additional fund of around 1.6 billion lek will be allocated to support municipalities in settling arrears, as well as to improve the provision of public services to citizens.

"The commitment of the Ministry of Finance remains unchanged to continue ensuring the downward trajectory of the level of public debt in relation to GDP, as well as to guarantee fiscal consolidation and the sustainability of the economy as a whole," underlined the Minister of Finance, Petrit Malaj.

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