Government to allow purchase of up to two years of pensionable service, Velkovski announces
Citizens who have reached retirement age but lack up to two years of the 15‑year minimum can pay contributions on a reduced base to secure pension rights, the minister said.
The Government will let citizens buy up to two years (24 months) of missing pensionable service, the Minister of Social Policy, Demography and Youth, Gjoko Velkovski, said during an interview on the MRT 1 programme "360 Degrees".
Velkovski explained that the planned legal change targets people who have reached the statutory retirement age but fall short of the 15-year minimum service requirement; those who have at least 13 years of recorded work history and who are no longer active contributors on the labour market would be eligible to purchase the missing months.
In his words: "The purchase of service applies and will apply only to those who are no longer insured today, who have turned 62–64 years—women and men—and will have the right those who have up to 13 years of work service that they had at the moment they reached the years of old age; that is, to buy back 24 months of their service, i.e., to pay for it."
Velkovski added that contributions for the months being bought will be paid by the citizen and that the contribution base will not be the full average wage but half of last year’s average salary.
He gave a numerical example: if the net average wage in a given year was 45,000 denars, the 19.9% contribution would be calculated on half of that amount—22,500 denars—multiplied by the number of missing months (up to 24).
After the payment is made, the pension will be determined by the standard statutory formula and based on the insured person’s actual earnings during the years they were employed. "Depending on what they had in the 13 years, the formula that will emerge—so from those 13 years how much they saved, on what salary they were registered, etc.—the formula itself will be shown later. So, if they were on the minimum wage, then they will fall into some of the minimum categories, which are nine in total in the system. If they earned, or were registered at a higher salary, it will be calculated accordingly," Velkovski said.
Photo: press material from the event
