Novalić: Pensioners Again on the Margins, Current FBiH Government Spent 79.5 Million KM Meant for Pensions on Parties and Other Purposes

(Patria) - Our pensioners have again been pushed to the margins, and the imposed government should at least answer where it spent the 79.5 million KM intended for pension increases!?

This was asked by former Prime Minister of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Fadil Novalić, adding: "When we adopted the reformist Law on PIO in partnership with pensioners in 2018, we defined pension increases in Articles 78 to 82.
Article 79 stipulated regular adjustment, i.e., mandatory increases depending on the growth of gross domestic product (GDP) and the consumer price index (CPI)."

"This article guarantees pension increases in such a way that the general growth of societal well-being (defined by GDP growth) is followed by pensioners' incomes, and that adjustment eliminates the negative impact of price increases. However, since pensions in the Federation lag significantly behind other incomes in society, at my insistence, Article 80 was also included in the Law," Novalić states.

As he says, this article allows the Government to also make extraordinary pension increases when there is GDP growth and a surplus in the PIO budget.

"That article is the main factor for the real increase of pensions, i.e., improving the status of pensioners. In April 2023, when the Government of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina was imposed through violence against the Constitution, the revenues of the Federal PIO Institute from PIO contributions and revenues from other regulations were 79.5 million KM higher than expenditures. In accordance with the Law on PIO and other positive regulations, those funds could only be spent on pension payments," emphasizes the former Prime Minister of the FBiH.

"Through the Budget Rebalance, this Government redirected those funds to other purposes, mainly to satisfy the various 'appetites' of parties, groups, and individuals in the Parliament of the Federation who support it precisely because of these financial interests. Given that the revenues of the FZ PIO, in accordance with Articles 125 and 130 of the Law on PIO, must not be spent for purposes other than pension payments and the Institute's costs, by violating this law, the Budget Law was also violated. It is quite clear that the pensioners' 79.5 million KM was spent illegally."