ECONOMY SLOT
(Hysni)
Musa: With 35 Euros, you can buy bread for ten days, I
am not even sure of that.
Hello and welcome to the economy edition of UNMIK on
air.
Musa Ponosheci worked as a teacher for 41 years.
During that time he paid his pension contribution to a pension fund, which was
stolen by Serb forces when they left Kosovo after the war. Since the fund could never be retrieved, Musa now
gets 35 Euros paid from the meager Kosovo budget. This sum is ridiculous, he
says, he is forced to work as a welder to survive.
It’s to redress this situation that the Pension
Trust Fund was set up a year ago – all Kosovars working in Socially Owned
Enterprises, state agencies, public and private companies with 500 or more
employees, were obliged to contribute to the new pension scheme. This has now
been extended to all other categories, including those who are self-employed.
Nexhmedin Shaqiri, member of the managing board at
the Pension Trust Fund says it is in the interest of the employees to invest in
their future.
Nexhmedin: You probably know how it works, the employees
contribute 5 % of their salary, and the employer pays 5 percent into the fund
in the name of the employee. But if the two sides wish, they can contribute up
to 10 % in each employee’s account.
The creation of the new individual savings pension
system in Kosovo, according to managers of the newly established Fund,
represents the dawn of a new era for future pensioners. Workers have the opportunity to control
their financial future by contributing to individual accounts, which they can
watch grow, which they can depend on for their retirement income.
The future pensioners we talked to on the street
welcome the move, hoping when they retire they will get a decent pension.
It is vital to solve the issue once and forever,
otherwise it is difficult to live, to have a real and meaningful pension.
After 65, I do not know how secure that money will
be, when I see my father, who does not have a real pension, after working for
26 years, today he gets 35 Euros. I do not know, but anyway I will join it.
I hope that the money we invest now will pay off one
day. It is good to set up this fund, so that we will not be a burden for the
society or for the next generation.
The new
pension scheme differs from the old Yugoslav one – previously those who were
employed paid for the pensions for those who had retired. Under the new scheme,
each worker’s future pension will depend directly on his/her contribution
today. This is what makes the new pension system one of the most advanced
in Europe, says Arjeta Koshutova, director of the Trust
Fund
Arjeta: This money is not a property of the Trust, of
the country, of the government or anybody else, it belongs to the individual
contributors. Each contributor will be able to check the balance, see how much
they’ve contributed, how much the employer has contributed, the return of
investments, and the managing cost of this money.
All the trust money will be invested abroad. Local
and international experts of the KPST Governing Board will decide how the money
will be invested. Profits will be ploughed back into the individual accounts of
each contributor. Currently, the money is being managed by the ABN EMRO Bank
from the Netherlands. Arjeta Koshutova
again.
Arjeta: When you reach 65 you will get your pension for as
long as you live, or in case of death before 65, the beneficiary that you
choose will inherit it, if you are married, your spouse, if not your parents,
your sister or your brother, as you indicate in the form.
A
pension account is very much like a bank account, explains Nexhmedin from the
KPST managing board. Contributions go
directly into the account and the contributor will receive a statement showing
the status of his/her pension savings.
Nexhmedin: Savings in banks are voluntary deposits in a fixed-term account. With
the pension trust fund, these savings are obligatory, the employee has the
right to withdraw that money only when he reaches 65. In some special
circumstances, the money can be withdrawn earlier, in case of death or if he
becomes an invalid.
After August 1, 2003, contributions to the Pension
Trust Fund will be much higher, due to the mandatory inclusion of employees of
small businesses and the self-employed. To
date, approximately 11 million Euros have been accumulated and it is expected
that by the end of 2003, more than 30 million Euros would have been collected
on behalf of the Kosovar workers.