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The fight against informality is not a solution for the pension scheme

2024-10-24 15:02:00, Politikë CNA

The fight against informality is not a solution for the pension scheme
Pensions remain the scourge of every government, where even though decades have passed, they continue to be the key to propaganda on the eve of elections.
Prime Minister Edi Rama, for days, in his public statements, has been targeting businesses by warning of punitive measures for those who do not declare real wages or pay social contributions.

"The entrepreneur tells the employee that he took the money because there are no taxes, and thus he damages pensioners and that employee who will retire tomorrow. We are the country with the lowest accommodation in all the countries of the region, while Albania only has an increase in tourists, and this makes no sense to me. They don't sleep on the road, I haven't seen any tourists on the roads or parks. They just don't appear in hotels. Pensioners are not benefiting from economic growth, but everyone else is. This is the moment of energy bills, where half paid and for the other half, the rest did not pay. Pensioners should get what they deserve. We will allocate a budget for pensioners and the other will be what we take from businesses to give to pensioners. We will not accept salary statements that we do not believe. We will be based on market analysis. They will end up in jail if they don't accept the return of the wage declaration if we don't believe it. There will be extreme measures until the bankruptcy of the business. Take it seriously!", declared the Prime Minister in recent meetings with entrepreneurs, businesses and pensioners.

But the fight against informality is not the solution for the pension scheme. As the former minister Ditmir Bushati in one of his notes emphasizes that: "It is positive that the government has turned the pension scheme into a topic of the day, as well as the communication campaign with the business for the real declaration of salaries, which helps the economy and the scheme of pensions. However, in order to address these challenges and not remain at the level of the rhetoric of the day, it is necessary to deal with the policies implemented so far, as well as the undertaking of radical reforms".

There are a number of factors that must be looked at, the departure of young people from the country, the decrease in the number of births or the increase in the average age in Albania

In his analysis, Bushati emphasizes that, "the new pensioners in the scheme in 2023 contributed an average of only 27 years, while in 2013 the new pensioners contributed an average of 31 years to the scheme.
The budgetary support of the pension scheme has fallen. In 2020 it was 1.96% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), while in 2023 it was only 0.63% of the GDP. Therefore, non-declaration or under-declaration of salaries is not the only factor that has prevented the increase of pensions", he declares.

The Albanian economy relies mainly on branches such as construction or tourism, which are temporary for the way the country should develop and do not offer a long-term perspective, so the current economic model must be reviewed.
In his analysis, former minister Ditmir Bushati clarifies that a high-productivity economy based on knowledge is needed in order to create greater income and a stable middle class.

"We need a highly productive, knowledge-based economy to create higher incomes and a sustainable middle class. Without quality education and knowledge, high productivity is impossible. At the same time, we need to promote new branches of development that are based on green industry, develop energy resources, mining resources for the development of heavy industry, and direct human resources to new branches".

Quoting Ditmir Bushati in conclusion, the pension scheme is not solved by campaigns, alms and turkey at the end of the year.

"Inequalities of social-economic status, income and life opportunities should constitute the axis of action of a government that is oriented towards the values ??of the democratic left"/CNA