The Kyrgyz government increases pensions (to €70 per month)

The two million elderly people make up less than 30% of the country's population. One of the biggest difficulties they face is healthcare, which is very precarious at the public level. ‘Without our children, we would not be able to survive.’ And many today regret the Soviet era.

Bishkek (AsiaNews) - From 1 October, the Kyrgyz Social Fund will increase the insurance portion of pensions by 10%, setting the minimum amount that pensioners can receive at 7,500 som, just over £70. The head of the Fund, Bakhtijar Aliev, explained the mechanisms of the reform to Kaktus.media and what Kyrgyz pensioners can really count on.

In Kyrgyzstan, pensions consist of three parts: the basic pension, the insurance pension and the cumulative pension. The first is guaranteed by the state, with a payment of 3,170 soms, but for some it can be even higher, as pensions were increased to 6,900 soms due to the indexation of the basic part of the pension, starting from 1 October last year.

This means that 3,170 som remains the “original” basic amount, but in practice most pensioners receive a higher amount, so that the total pension is not less than the established amount. From 1 October, the amount will be 7,500 som.

The insurance portion is constituted individually and depends on the contributions paid by the citizen during their working life. These funds accumulate in the pensioner's personal account: the higher the contributions paid, the higher the future pension. As Aliev explains, ‘the basic portion is guaranteed by the state, while the insurance portion is the result of the citizen's personal participation in the social insurance system’.

Unlike the basic and insurance portions, the cumulative portion of the pension is formed through voluntary contributions by the citizen and can be used, for example, to pay off a mortgage; however, this portion of the pension can only be used once.

The planned 10% increase applies to citizens whose insurance portion does not exceed 50,000 som; the minimum amount to be added is 600 som, which is important for the less well-off, and the maximum will be 5,000 som, to ‘help them use their resources effectively’, comments the head of the Pension Fund. For new pensioners, the total amount due cannot be less than the minimum subsistence level for pensioners, which is 7,100 som.

However, the pensioners interviewed by Kaktus.media journalists do not seem enthusiastic about these calculations, stating that “the pension is only enough for our most immediate needs; without our children, we would not be able to survive”.

One of them says that “with my pension, I can only go shopping once, and if I need medicine, it's not enough. I rely solely on relatives and neighbours”. Others confirm that the money is enough to buy cheap food and pay for bus tickets, ‘we can't afford taxis, also because you can only call them with apps that are difficult to use’.

One of the biggest difficulties is in fact healthcare, which is very precarious at the public level, and for which extra money is needed to pay doctors and nurses. ‘If I didn't have the support of my family, I couldn't survive,’ says elderly Ajmada.

‘When I needed to go to hospital, I had nothing left in my pocket; they sent me home until my son was able to send some money from Russia, where he had gone to work.’

Kyrgyzstan has just over 7 million inhabitants, with people over 60 accounting for less than 30% of a fairly young population seeking economic and social development, but the two million elderly people today regret the Soviet era, when everyone had less, but at least there was no risk of being left with nothing.