GOVERNMENT CONSIDERING INTRODUCING ZERO PENSION INSURANCE PILLAR

ZAGREB, Nov 28 (Hina) - The Croatian government is considering introducing a zero pension insurance pillar as an expression of social solidarity with pensioners, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic said on Wednesday. The zero pillar would be financed directly from the government budget, not from the Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO), which should consolidate solidarity with pensioners receiving the lowest pensions, Vidovic told a news conference focusing on the reorganisation of the HZMO. The minister stressed Croatia should have five million employed or a million pensioners less than the present 1.3 million so that the current pensions, which are 40 percent of the average salary, could reach the desired level of 80 percent. By harmonising pensions with the growth of salaries and returning part of its debt to the pensioners, the government has managed to stop negative trends, so this year pensions rose by 20.6 percent, Vidovic said. At the news conference HZMO experts presented a programme on the restructuring of the institute into a modern public institution for implementing the first pillar of mandatory pension insurance. (hina) lml sb