Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct. 29 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
A basic part of the retirement pension in Azerbaijan hits an average of $106. Therefore, Azerbaijan ranks second on this index among the CIS countries, Salim Muslimov, chairman of the Azerbaijani State Social Protection Fund, said at a news conference in the headquarters of New Azerbaijan Party today.
"A basic part of a retirement pension hits $124.2 in Kazakhstan, $91.4 in Ukraine, $90.2 in Russia, $81.1 in Belarus, $44.3 in Georgia, and $21.6 in Armenia," Muslimov said.
He said that the minimal amount of a retirement pension in Azerbaijan increased by 3.4 times and an average pension by 4 times after a new pension-insurance system was introduced.
A basic part of an old-age retirement pension has been increased by 13.6 percent since September 1. It hits 85 manat now.
The State Pension-Insurance System Development Program covers 2009-2015. The new pension-insurance system consists of three stages.
The first stage includes the compulsory pension insurance realized by the state. The second stage includes a part of the system of the compulsory pension insurance, dealing with real investments. It involves transferring a part of social insurance premiums to the bank accounts, placing in various financial instruments and increasing pensions as a result of the received profit. The third stage involves establishing the private pension funds, extra pensions received by pensioners as a result of these funds' activities.
At present, there are about 1,254,200 pensioners in Azerbaijan.
Muslimov said that an average retirement pension in the country, as of October 1, amounted to 111 manat and the amount of the newly-assigned pensions - 162 manat.
A pension consists of two parts in Azerbaijan - base and insurance. At present, the base pension in the country is 85 manat. Azerbaijan has been introducing a new mechanism for calculating pensions since 2010. But it is calculated in accordance with work experience which must hit 12 years, but not the amount of a salary for the last five years of work.
According to the law, the right to a pension is given to men aged 62.5 and women aged 57.5.
The age limit for men will rise annually by six months from January 1, 2010 - January 1, 2012, women - from January 1, 2010 - January 1, 2016, thus, being determined at about 63 and 60 years old respectively.
On Oct. 29, the official exchange rate is 0.8007 manat to $1.