State Retirement Pensions Marked for 4.4% Increase
State retirement pensions are likely to rise by 4.4 percent in April, according to Helen Nõmmik, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
That increase percentage, scheduled to come up for Cabinet approval by March 20, would require an additional allocation of 70 million euros from the state budget, Nõmmik said.
Around 1.4 billion euros has been earmarked for pensions in this year's state budget, 6 percent more than in 2011.
Last year there were approximately 400,000 registered pensioners in Estonia, of whom 300,000 were retirees. In 2012, the total figure is expected to grow by at least 2 percent, Eesti Päevaleht reported.
According to Statistics Estonia, the average state retirement pension received in the first three quarters of last year was 305 euros per month.
Ingrid Teesalu