Any government in Russia would face the need to make changes to the pension system and raise the retirement age in light of the current demographic situation in the country, Chairman of the Russian Accounts Chamber Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2018) Any government in Russia would face the need to make changes to the pension system and raise the retirement age in light of the current demographic situation in the country, Chairman of the Russian Accounts Chamber Alexei Kudrin said on Tuesday.
Kudrin, who had served as finance minister for some 10 years and is a prominent free-market champion, has said earlier that Russia suffers from a shrinking working age population, which will decrease by 500,000 people in 2019.
"I would say that in the current demographic situation any government of any ideological orientation would have to deal with the issues that I have mentioned. Any government would have to take such a decision ... due to the economic realities that I talked about today," Kudrin said at the public hearings in the Russian lower house of parliament.
Kudrin said in June that Russia was set to save 1 trillion rubles (about $14.8 billion) by raising the retirement age, and the large part of that amount would be earmarked to raise pensions.
On July 19, the Russian State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill on changes in the pension law. The bill proposes raising the retirement age from 60 to 65 years for men and from 55 to 63 years for women. The changes are expected to be implemented step-by-step starting from 2019. The lower house has so far approved basic provisions of the document. The lawmakers are expected to submit their amendment proposals by September 24.
