Irakli Kobakhidze: State pension for over-70s to reach 555 GEL as government closes gap for younger retirees

“The monthly state pension for retirees over the age of 70 will rise to 555 GEL from January under statutory indexation rules,” Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced at a government press briefing today.

Explaining the rationale behind the government’s additional boost for younger retirees, PM Kobakhidze noted that standard indexation would have created a widening disparity between age brackets, granting only a 20 GEL increase to those under 70 compared to a 60 GEL rise for older pensioners.

“Under indexation, a higher increase was already provided for pensioners over 70, taking their pension to 555 GEL. The projected increase for retirees under 70 lagged significantly behind at just 20 GEL, compared with 60 GEL for those over 70. Consequently, we decided to narrow the gap between under-70 retirees and those aged 70 and above as much as possible,” Kobakhidze said.

Because statutory formulas yielded a smaller adjustment for younger retirees, the Prime Minister framed the decision to increase their payments by 45 GEL, bringing their monthly total to 415 GEL, as an extraordinary intervention.

“Since indexation offered a smaller increase here, we introduced a special measure specifically targeted at pensioners under the age of 70,” Kobakhidze added.