Veli Ağbaba criticizes expected pension hike: 'This is a death raise'

Republican People's Party (CHP) Malatya Deputy Veli Ağbaba made statements regarding the pension increase to be implemented in July. Ağbaba argued that the raise of around 2,500 TL, which will be provided through inflation adjustment, is insufficient and stated that this situation is equivalent to telling retirees to "die."

Ağbaba said, "Following the inflation data to be announced tomorrow, there is an agenda to add a proposal regarding the increase of the lowest pension to the omnibus bill that we will discuss in the Parliament's Planning and Budget Committee.

However, the expected increase will not be enough to compensate for the losses retirees have suffered over the years. Base pensions need to be equalized with the minimum wage."

THE DECLINE IN PENSIONS

Ağbaba stated that pensions have eroded against the minimum wage over the years. Reminding that the lowest pension was 1.4 times the minimum wage in 2002, Ağbaba emphasized that this ratio has fallen to 65% today. Stating that the increases made to the minimum wage are not reflected in pensions, Ağbaba said that this situation has seriously reduced the purchasing power of retirees.

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BASE PENSIONS AND THE LOWEST MONTHLY PAYMENT

Ağbaba noted that the government introduced the lowest pension application because base pensions remained low, but this practice caused a large segment of retirees to be stuck at the lowest pension level. Stating that the base pension of a person who retired from Bağ-Kur is 11,124 TL, but they receive a monthly payment of 14,469 TL with treasury support, Ağbaba argued that this gap should be eliminated and that base pensions should be equalized with the minimum wage.

News Source: 12punto