Trust scows to withdraw savings, compensation from government not for all

The Trust will not issue any obstacle that a percentage specified by its total 2 billion-euro fund be exploited before the age of 65 by the payers.

In this institution, they say that any legal changes made by the Parliament of Kosovo, in terms of the issue of granting 10% of pre-retire means, the Trust implements them because it is an executional institution.

Although, in the Kosovo Chamber of Economics except that they support this idea of the new government, they say it is an instrument of importance for maintaining consumer or purchasing power levels at this time of pandemic.

Already the Finance Ministry is working on the modalities and production of taxpayers in “Trust” to determine even categories that will be restored and those that do not need to be repaid by the government.

Finance Minister Hykmete Bajrami for Kosovo has said that now one of the measures of the programme for economic recovery is to make a specific percentage of Trust tools available.

Minister Bajrami, saying legal changes to the Trust will be temporary, stressed there will be a debate over the issue, so that this support from all.

“We are working with the Pension Treatment Fund in Kosovo, so that we can see if it needs such changes. Now we can say right from the start that there is a need for legal changes, but there are some laws that are affected to implement the package of economic recovery correctly. What we as the minister of finance are doing is we're establishing an institutional group, where we're initially thinking with a law to change certain laws so that these can be changed over a period of time... We're working on the modalities, we've initially requested the structure of contributions or contributors to the Trust and we'll see which categories will be restored and which categories do not need to be repaid. This will be an opportunity where people on a voluntary basis can attract these tools. Then, on the basis of categories, we will see which categories the government needs to compensate for within a certain period of time and which there is no need at all to compensate, but only you are given the opportunity to actually attract a small sum”, Bajrami said.

While the chairman of the Parliamentary Commission for Finance and Transfers from LVV, Herkuran Murati, told Kosovo that the Pension Savings Fund is not emergency, it is professional and not professional on the part of this “illegal government”, as he calls it, to influence those institutions that have specific missions.

Murati claims that if these changes are considered in the Commission, the chairman will also seek Trust's opinion.

“Should be tested to see how it will result in the long-term. [...] The goal of Trustit '%s' is not an emergency fund, it's a pension fund. So, the government's lack of creativity to find other solutions doesn't make it possible now to even try to find methods of nonprofessional and non-professiveness to compensate with legal changes and to touch institutions that have another mission”, Murati points out.

For the chairman of the Kosovo Economic House (OEK), Berat Rukiqiqii, the Government's plan for attracting a 10 per cent savings before retirement, may be feasible, but this, according to him, should be conditioned that these means remain in the country's economy.

Rukiqi stressed that the possible withdrawal of Trust money would somewhat increase even the impact on the local economy.

I see this as one of the very important instruments in maintaining consumption levels or purchasing power. But one thing I had added to this is good to condition that those tools remain in our economy. So those vehicles if they are attracted by citizens do not go for imported goods, but are designed to have them destination for purchase of local products and not be spent on foreign products. This would increase the impact on the local economy a little bit, and it would carry a positive message. I don't know how it's possible to realize, but I think this can be accomplished but to be a link between attracting these tools and their consumption within our economy”, Rukiqi says.

It seems these tools of the Savings Fund will not be stopped by the Trust Board and management.

“As to the issue of granting 10% of pre-retire means, it is not up to us to comment on this issue, since we are only the executional institution”, the Kosovo Manager for Public Relations in the Trust, Jeton Demi, said February.

Prime Minister Awoodullah Hoti during the presentation of the package for economic recovery has declared days before that the fifth measure of this package is to stimulate household expenses, and create as he points out, a window that in three months those who contributed to the Pension Trust tou return part of the savings.

The Ministry of Finance has already developed ideas on how this issue can function, both related to the level of contributions, and the need that the state then needs a share of contributions depending on levels to compensate contributors for a 5-year period.