Pension from the President

The amount of the state supplement to voluntary pension contributions has been determined

The president's proposal for the state to co-finance voluntary pension savings of Russians , expressed in his address to the Federal Assembly this year, is beginning to take on real shape. As Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Anna Popova reported yesterday at the investment forum, the Ministry of Economic Development has prepared a bill on stimulating voluntary pension savings . If the law is adopted, and there are no doubts about this, the state will undertake to co-finance voluntary contributions of citizens in their savings accounts in pension funds in a 1:1 ratio. (At the same time, as the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade reminds, voluntary pension contributions of citizens do not relieve their employers from the obligation to transfer pension contributions for the employee to the basic and insurance part of the pension.)

True, according to the bill, the amount of co-financing from the state cannot exceed 10 thousand rubles. per year. The amount of such a “surcharge” could be higher. When Vladimir Putin proposed a scheme for co-financing pensions in April, there was no limit on the funds that the state could add to future pensioners. However, subsequently, sources in the presidential administration suggested that we could be talking about 18 thousand rubles. per year. The Ministry of Finance, for its part, stated that the amount of co-financing will vary from 15 to 20 thousand rubles.

As Anna Popova said, the bill on co-financing voluntary pension savings, including the maximum amount of the bonus, has already been agreed upon with the Ministry of Finance. “We plan to submit it to the government in September,” the deputy minister said.

The source of funds for the pension supplement is planned to be the national welfare fund. Together with the reserve fund, it will replace the current stabilization fund from 2008. At least this is the source of co-financing that the president named in his message to the Federal Assembly.

At the same time, the president proposed to ensure that Russians’ voluntary pension contributions have the “necessary profitability and reliability.” This goal is pursued by another bill, which was also prepared in the department of German Gref. According to Anna Popova, the bill expands the list of instruments in which the pension funds of the so-called “silent people” can be invested, that is, those Russians who have not chosen a private management company and whose funds are managed by a state company by default. The Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economic Development reminded that, according to the current legislation, the funds of “silent people” can only be channeled into government securities. They are reliable, but not very profitable. The bill developed by the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, says the deputy minister, “changes the investment system and expands the range of instruments in which these funds can be invested.” This is supposed to be done precisely to increase the profitability of pension savings. The bill, according to Anna Popova, has been agreed upon with all interested departments.

Irina SKLYAROVA, Mikhail VOROBYEV