Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski announced that he has reached agreement with representatives of retirees to increase pensions and to hike the financial assistance package for the next three months.

Kovacevski said that the Government is introducing a scheme to calculate pensions based evenly on the cost of living and on the increase in the minimum wage. Both indexes are going way up, with the spiking inflation and the Government’s recent push to increase the minimum wage. Pensions will be aligned twice a year.

VMRO-DPMNE responded to the announcement by saying that this model was in place until 2018, when it was thrown out by the SDSM led Government. “We had this system that took into account the cost of living but SDSM abandoned it. They undercut retirees and stole from them for years and now they are restoring the system”, said Gordana Dimitrieska Kocoska from VMRO-DPMNE.