4,200 new pensioners in FBiH in five months, number of employed must drastically increase for pension fund stability

(Patria) - The difference between the number of employed and pensioners in FBiH is 87,497 in favor of the employed. These figures are not encouraging, and the trend of increasing pensioner numbers is recorded month after month.

Regarding the number of employed, it decreased by several thousand in the first three months of 2025 and has not yet returned to the number of employed at the end of December, when there were 551,452 employed.

Although an increase in the number of employed is recorded in April, May, and June, the number of pensioners is also growing at the same time. At the end of May, there were 546,129 employed, and 458,632 beneficiaries will receive their June pension.

After the regular pension adjustment, 310 million KM are needed monthly for pension payments. It is no secret that the FBiH Government paid 511 million KM during 2024 to ensure regular pension payments.

According to data from the PIO/MIO Fund, the number of pensioners has increased by 4,252 in the first five months of 2025. If this trend continues, there will be around 465,000 pensioners in the Federation of BiH by the beginning of next year, 2026. Below is the structure of employed persons in FBiH at the end of May.

However, the main problem is the small difference between the number of employed and pensioners. This difference should be two to one, considering that pensions are mostly paid from contributions on salaries.

Since the decision to increase the minimum wage from 619 to 1,000 KM came into effect at the beginning of 2025, and other salaries have also increased, over two billion KM have been collected from contributions alone. Pensions have been increased since April based on regular adjustments, and there is still no decision on one-time assistance for pensioners. The increase in pensions is a constant topic of discussion between pensioner associations and the FBiH Government, but there is currently no confirmation that pensions will be further increased.

From July 1, the application of lower contribution rates began, so employers will pay 86 KM less tax on a salary of 1,000 KM, and this amount is even higher for larger salaries. It is up to employers whether they will increase their employees' salaries by this amount.

Snježana Kopruner, a member of the FBiH Economic and Social Council and director of a company, explained in the show Odgovorite ljudima that at this moment, FBiH lacks 150,000 jobs to fully finance the pension fund.

“Someone should create these 150,000 jobs - who is that? It's the employers. By this, I wanted to say that the profit tax, which is 10%, is quite acceptable in my opinion and should not be touched. One should only look at the dividend tax when money is paid out of the company, to tax that,” explained Kopruner, adding that it should be “attractive for others to invest and create these jobs, because we will never be able to finance this pension fund.”

The FBiH Government has initiated a set of fiscal measures, and plans include the adoption of the Law on Fiscalization of Transactions, further reduction of tax rates, and taxation of dividends.

The FBiH Government is expected to extend the decree on the payment of non-taxable employer assistance to employees by the end of this month. Until now, the amount was a maximum of 450 KM per employee per month, with the condition that salaries must not be reduced beforehand. It is possible that the amount will be reduced, but the agreement at the last session of the ESV was to extend the decree.