Labour and Welfare Minister Mila Carovska made a claim today that the state run retirement fund PIOM is stabilized after the tax increases the Parliament introduced, and that for the first time in a long while, retirement payments are being made without borrowing.

The measures we undertook to stabilize the retirement system have shown results. The increase in contributions and in the number of employees, as well as the GDP growth will also lead to higher retirement incomes, Carovska said.

PIOM was about 300 million EUR in the hole annually, but Carovska claims that the tax hike reduced that to between 50 and 65 million EUR. She added that this was done despite the two retirement income hikes, which she attributed to the growth of the economy.