It is planned to gradually increase the minimum retirement age in Uzbekistan. This was reported by Zamin.uz.
On September 10, 2023, Murodbek Atajonov, Executive Director of the Pension Fund under the Ministry of Economy and Finance, announced this. The pension reform project envisages raising the retirement age from 60 to 63 for men and from 55 to 58 for women.
The changes will be implemented step by step, increasing by half a year annually. According to Atajonov, in many countries the retirement age is above 65, while in Uzbekistan the retirement age has not changed for the last 32 years.
According to him, our country is among the last states to raise the retirement age. So far, no final decision has been made regarding the increase in retirement age.
Therefore, the Pension Fund plans to create a special platform to collect public opinion on the reform. Opinions will be gathered for one month and later the project will be revised based on the proposals.
Additionally, Atajonov mentioned that the retirement age could be increased more gradually — not every six months but every three months. In this case, the retirement age would increase by one year every four years, and the reforms could extend up to 12 years.
In September 2024, a working group was formed to develop the pension reform concept. The group is headed by Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Jamshid Qo‘chqorov.
The project is planned to be submitted to the Presidential Administration by March 1, 2025. To ensure financial stability, the International Monetary Fund has proposed pension system reforms to Uzbekistan.
Over the past ten years, the Pension Fund's revenues have increased 3.4 times, while expenditures have grown fivefold. In 2022, 11 trillion soums were allocated from the state budget to the Pension Fund, and in 2023 this figure reached 15 trillion soums.
By 2030, transfers are expected to rise to 38 trillion soums. Koba Gvenetadze, the IMF Resident Representative in Uzbekistan, emphasized the low retirement age and recommended its gradual increase.
The World Bank also supports the development of this concept. Currently, no official decision has been made regarding the increase of the retirement age.
The Pension Fund is studying the proposals of international experts and analyzing their suitability for the country’s conditions. Source: Spot.uz
