A new indexation of pensions for Russians has been announced: workers have again been left behind

“Official inflation of 4.5% in 2024 is hard to believe”

From January 1, 2024, the average old-age pension will be 23,449 rubles – the corresponding bill was adopted by the State Duma in the first reading. As parliamentarians assure, the size of indexation should soften the impact of inflation. In reality, the situation with the dynamics of consumer prices is so unpredictable that any forecasts are meaningless.

The measure will affect more than 32 million Russians, recalled State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin. According to him, all the funds necessary to support pensioners in the amount of about 234 billion rubles have already been included in the draft federal budget. There is also an increase in the cost of the pension coefficient – from 129.46 to 133.05 rubles.

For non-working recipients of old-age insurance pensions, the indexation amount will average 1,631 rubles (7.5%).

As Sergei Altukhov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, noted, “this will help maintain the standard of living of older citizens,” since the current year has turned out to be difficult financially for Russians.

According to the macro forecast of the Ministry of Economic Development, by the end of 2023, inflation will reach the level of 7.5%, and in 2024 it will drop to 4.5%.

“Parliament must act ahead of inflation so that citizens do not feel a noticeable difference between income and expenses,” said Nikita Chaplin, a member of the Budget and Taxes Committee.

Meanwhile, part of the Duma corps continues to insist on indexation for working pensioners – at least teachers, doctors, social workers. In addition, according to the representative of the LDPR faction, head of the Committee on Labor, Social Policy and Veterans Affairs Yaroslav Nilov, there is also the issue of introducing a fairer recalculation for this category.

“On August 1, the maximum they can increase is three pension points. At the same time, other working citizens can earn 10 points. And this imbalance is proposed to be removed,” the deputy said.

“In general, the very concept of indexation presupposes the restoration of the real content of this or that payment,” says Pavel Kudyukin, a member of the Council of the Confederation of Labor of Russia. – That is, its parameters should not be lower than the level of official inflation.

The bad thing is that in Russia there is no practice of proactive indexing, it is always catch-up, it is carried out retroactively. While prices live their own lives, in isolation from the actions of the state.

Yes, there are plenty of forecasts, but we have seen more than once that they do not come true. The official figure of 4.5% in 2024 is hard to believe, since Russians will face a noticeable increase in tariffs for electricity, gas, and so on. In addition, inflation varies greatly across product groups and income categories of the population: for pensioners it is invariably higher than that determined by Rosstat.”

Second point. It is not clear what the legally established average pension level means. In reality, this indicator is formed automatically, naturally, in accordance with the rules for calculating pensions (taking into account length of service and pension points), enshrined, again, in government documents. The very formulation of the question is extremely surprising. Moreover, in the case of wages, the law defines the minimum wage (minimum wage), argues Kudyukin.