During the marathon discussions on the 2025 budget, Gazment Bardhi, the Head of the Parliamentary Group of the Democratic Party, claimed that the government does not plan a bonus for pensioners next year. However, the 2025 budget includes 3.7 billion lek for pensioners’ bonuses.
Esmeralda Topi
Earlier this week, after a 48-hour marathon session, the parliament approved the most important public finance document, the state budget for 2025.
The discussions between the government and the opposition had a common theme: pensioners. For once, both the Socialist Party (SP) and the Democratic Party (DP) centered their political rhetoric on the elderly.
The Prime Minister opened his speech in Parliament by announcing the decision to increase the year-end bonus for pensioners from 5,000 Lek to 10,000-15,000 Lek, starting this year. He also promised another reward for pensioners next year, which he named the ‘spring bonus.’
According to the opposition, these decisions are aimed at securing the votes of over 791,000 pensioners in the 2025 parliamentary elections.
‘The year-end bonus is not even annual. That’s why the 2025 budget does not foresee a year-end bonus for 2025, because they have no intention of giving it,’ said Gazment Bardhi, the leader of the PD parliamentary group, during his speech in parliament.
Fact
The 2025 budget does not allocate funds for pension increases. However, contrary to Bardhi’s claims, the budget does include a fund for the bonus designated for pensioners. It also accounts for pension indexing.
According to the figures, the fund for the year-end bonus is nearly the same as this year’s. In 2025, the government has planned 3.7 Billion Lek for the bonus, compared to the 3.6 billion Lek planned for this year. Therefore, the initial plan was for the pensioner bonus to remain at 5,000 Lek, as it has been in recent years.
2025 State Budget / Source: Ministry of Finance
The new decision, which anticipates doubling or tripling the bonus, will compel the government to revise the 3.7 billion Lek fund with an increase starting this month.
Next year’s budget also needs to be adjusted to ensure the commitment to rewards ranging from 100 to 150 Euros is met.
Furthermore, the 2025 budget must be amended to include the funds for the promised spring bonus, a category not currently allocated in the 2025 budget.
Bonus over the years
In Albania, there are 791,257 pensioners. According to data from the Institute of Social Insurance, over the past ten years, the average pension in urban areas has increased by 4,158 Lek, while in rural areas, it has grown by 3,586 Lek. Over the last decade, the government has distributed a year-end bonus ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 Lek to pensioners.
Average urban pension
2013 14,076 Lek
2023 18,234 Lek
Average rural pension
2013 7,465 Lek
2023 11,051 Lek
Conclusion
Based on the official 2025 budget data, the statement made by Gazmend Bardhi, leader of the PD parliamentary group, that ‘there is no bonus planned for the end of next year’ is false.
