Minimum contributory thresholds will increase by about 5.6 per cent in 2011, Labour and Social Policy Minister Totyu Mladenov said during Question Time in Parliament Friday. Mladenov said that trade unions and employers have almost reached an agreement on the size of the minimum contributory thresholds for next year. The increase is expected to generate 110 million leva.

Mladenov said that the discussion on the demanded increase of the minimum wage is still open and that the government will try to adopt the best option. A trade union urged in mid-August to increase the minimum wage from the current 240 leva to 270 leva.

Commenting the proposed pension reform, Mladenov said that the proposed changes in the pension system should result in cutting the deficit in the state public social insurance from the current more than 2,000 million leva to 1,200 million leva in three years' time. The reform is intended to ensure greater sustainable employment, higher incomes, better collection of social and health insurance payments, less people engaged in the shadow economy.

The increased proceeds from social and health insurance payments on account of the longer time insured people will stay on the labour market are expected to reach 69.9 million leva in 2011, 127.3 million leva in 2012, and 171 million leva in 2013. Twelve million leva are expected to be saved in 2011 from pension spending, 63 million leva in 2013 and 166 million leva in 2013.

The net economic effect from increased proceeds and lower spending is expected to total 81.8 million leva in 2011, 190 million leva in 2012 and 337 million leva in 2013, Mladenov said.

The Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) suspects that the ruling GERB Party works consciously for destablization of the pension system. This is said in a Left Declaration read from the parliamentary rostrum by BSP leader Sergei Stanishev. As he put it, the contemplated reforms will result in "real dismantling of the European social state in Bulgaria". Stanishev proposed that a referendum be held on the pension reform.

Source: BTA