Financial Services, Latvia, Legislation, Markets and Companies, Pensioners

"No matter how much a person earns – if the Constitution says that a minimal social minimum has to be ensured in pensions, at least minimum contributions will have to be made by every employed resident," said the minister.

In Reirs' opinion, such a minimum would significantly increase budget revenue, as well as ensure social guarantees for those who wish to work part-time.

The Pensioners Federation's meeting yesterday was called to discuss the federation's further actions regarding pensions. Reirs and Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma (Unity) also participated in the meeting.

As reported, President Andris Berzins last week promulgated amendments to the Law on State Pensions, stipulating recalculation of pensions as of next year in order to prevent the impact of a negative index of mandatory state social insurance contributions (capital index).

The law stipulates that pensions will be recalculated as of next year, while pensions that are scheduled for review in specific years, as well as the review regulations, will be included in the annual state budget law and medium-term budget framework law, considering the state budget's opportunities.

The amendments stipulate limiting fluctuations in the individual's pension capital (the accumulated social insurance contributions), without reducing the volume of pensions, when the index applicable to wages subject to insurance contributions is less than the figure "1". In this situation, the pension capital will remain intact. The amendments also include a mechanism that will prevent overly fast growth in the pension capital volume during the economic growth period.