Belarusian Men May Be Left Without Pension Money Starting From October

If they trust the government.

A "reform" of the funded pension will be launched in Belarus on October 1. In short, employees will be able to give up to 10% of their wages to their second pension, the employer will be obliged to participate in it. However, the money saved will only be available after retirement. An exception would be if they become disabled or die, zerkalo.io writes. Who would get the money in such a case and how quickly?

It will be possible to get a second pension through the insurance company Stravita from October 1. Today, the Ministry of Labour and the insurance company held a hotline concerning voluntary supplementary funded pension insurance. The specialists were asked who would receive the money saved for the second pension, if the person, who had obtained such insurance, dies. They were also asked about the deadline for this payment and which documents have to be submitted in order to receive the money.

- The second pension is paid to the heirs. Savings for supplementary pension insurance are inherited by law. In addition, you can make a will specifying who will be entitled to receive the funds upon death, - explained the Deputy Director General of Stravita Slena Tuleika. - Payment of the redemption sum is made within 15 business days from the date of filing an application for the payment of the redemption sum, along with a copy of the death certificate of the insurance holder and the certificate of right to inherit.

The specialist clarified that an identity document, as well as a copy of the death certificate of the insurance holder and the certificate of inheritance rights are needed for this.

We remind that life expectancy in Belarus is 78 years for women and 64 years for men. At the same time it will be possible to get the accumulated funds for the second pension during 5 or 10 years. But it will be possible to do it only after reaching the general retirement age. Today it is 63 years for men and 58 years for women. That is, the average man may not have time to get all the accumulated funds in his lifetime.

We remind you that earlier the Labour Ministry was sceptical about the 'reform' of the funded pension system that will be introduced from 1 October. The main question was who would refund the "dropped out" obligatory insurance contributions that the employer would send to the funded pension.

At present, each month the employer sends to the Social Security Fund 28% of the employee's salary for pension insurance. The employer will transfer money to the additional pension from the obligatory insurance payments.

There has been a hole in the SSF budget that is used to pay pensions and benefits for years, and it has required annual transfers, i.e. subventions from the state budget. The Ministry of Labour and other relevant agencies have failed to solve this problem.