Social Security expert gives a date: Lowest pension will be raised to minimum wage level

AKP Chairman and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who announced a 5 percent additional raise for retirees, announced as a 'good news' that the lowest pension would rise to 10,000 TL.

While millions of retirees are waiting for the additional raise to be deposited into their accounts, the claim that the government will make an additional increase to the lowest pension before the elections continues to be discussed in political circles.

Participating in a broadcast on Sözcü TV, Social Security Expert Dilek Ete claimed that the lowest pension would be brought to at least the level of the minimum wage.

Social Security Expert Dilek Ete said, "The pensions of those receiving less than 10,000 TL will be completed to 10,000 TL, and they will receive the difference they did not get in January in the first week of February. They shouldn't be confused about that. The lowest salary that SSK and Bağkur retirees will receive is 10,000 TL."

GAVE A DATE: I THINK OUR PRESIDENT WILL PROVIDE THIS

Ete made the following assessment: "Pension salaries need to be completely renewed from start to finish. The main problem we are experiencing right now is not just inflation. It is Law No. 5510, which came into effect in 2008. If a regulation is to be made for retirees, just as an adjustment was given for those before 2000, an adjustment and a flat-rate raise need to be given to retirees after 2000 as well. A flat-rate raise needs to be given to all retirees without any discrimination until July. I think our President will provide this."

HOW MUCH WILL THE LOWEST PENSION BE?

Ete used the following expressions:

"We have said it before, the President is quite successful regarding elections. As you know, last year before the March elections, he raised the lowest pension to 7,500 TL. Now they will bring the lowest pension to at least the minimum wage level. Our President made a statement saying, 'I am declaring this year the Year of Retirees.' I don't know how he will distribute this, but retirees are telling mayoral candidates that they cannot make ends meet. There will definitely be a regulation before the election."

THERE ARE 2 FORMULAS ON THE TABLE

Social Security Consultant Emin Yılmaz explained the curious details about the subject as follows:

“Bonuses are an amount that has been paid to our retirees since 2018. It is a matter of paying a total of 4,000 TL in holiday bonuses, 2,000 TL each for our religious holidays, Ramadan and Eid al-Adha. There are 2 alternatives being discussed regarding how much the holiday bonuses will be in the new period. The first is that a 50 percent raise will be made to this figure, which means it could rise to 3,000 TL with a 1,000 TL difference. If we ask why 50 percent, in the previous period, a 49.25 percent raise was applied to the salaries of all our retirees without distinction, with the addition of the 37.57 percent inflation figure and the 11.68 percent welfare share. We can say that the possibility of a 50 percent increase in retirement bonuses could be based on this. As a second alternative, 5,000 TL was given once for the 100th anniversary of our Republic. This was an application that covered all our retirees, whether they were working or not. Perhaps the 2,000 TL holiday bonus currently given could be 5,000 Turkish Lira with a 150 percent increase. Bonuses hold an important place in terms of meeting at least one of our citizens' needs during the holidays. I sincerely hope that there will be a high raise."