Pension benefits for March will be paid before Novruz Holiday

Salim Muslimov, Chairman of the State Social Protection Fund (SSPF) has held a press conference on last year’s performance and plans for 2009.

He said that SSPF’s revenue was AZN 1 395.9 million in 2008, an increase of 44.2% on a year ago.
In his words, the proceeds of compulsory insurance increased by 39.4%, year-on-year, to AZN 958.6 million. The amount of compulsory insurance receipts from non-budget organizations rose by 37.9%.
Salim Muslimov added that expenses amounted to AZN 1 392 million last year, AZN 1 339 million (96.2%) of which went to the financing of pensions and benefits.
He noted that the funding of pensions for January and February this year has been successfully completed and financing of pensions for March is scheduled to be completed before Novruz Holiday (March 20-21).
According to him, insurance portion of all types of labor pension benefits were increased by 20.8% effective January 1 in accordance with a February 9 presidential decree on pension benefits indexation.
He said the amount of pension benefits reached AZN 99 on average after indexation of labor pensions of 547 000 people.
Salim Muslimov said that Azerbaijan ($92.3) is the 4th for the minimum amount of pension benefits among the CIS and Baltic States, preceded by Estonia (the minimum pension is $170), Lithuania ($136) and Kazakhstan ($101).