The government will not give an increase to pensions and retirees

The Social Insurance Fund (CSS) does not have the resources to implement the increase promised to pensioners and retirees, as announced by the national government through the director of the entity Enrique Lau Cortes.

The funds allocated for this purpose were not deposited into the accounts Social Security Fund (CSS), Therefore, from a legal point of view, the entity cannot make the said payment, explained Lau Cortes.

Law 51 which governs Social Security Fund establishes that any increase in pensions and retirements that are not provided for by the law itself must come with their funding sources and must be deposited in CSS accounts so that they can be processed and paid, Lau Cortes pointed out.

Last October, the president repeated the increase for pensioners and retirees earning less than B/.350.00 per month. Cortizo Cohen promised that from November 20 this year, the increase for 120,315 pensioners will take effect.

He general manager of Revenue, Publio De Gracia and director of CSS They pointed out that the limitation of the fulfillment of the Government’s promise is a response to the instructions of the President of the Republic, who ordered that it be kept on a restricted account in National Bank of PanamaB/ 562,840,543.59 that he received from the company Minera Panamá, which corresponds to the previous obligations established by the legal contract.

De Gracia insisted that the increase for pensioners and pensioners remains the promise of the President of the Republic.

“For the Social Security Fund, the fact of existing inequality and the existence of a group of pensioners and retirees that requires the application of social justice remains a reason for particular concern,” added the CSS director.

Minera Panamá SA’s contractual economic obligations have been delivered to the state, however the future of the Law 406 contract is pending, De Gracia reiterated.

The President of the Republic also announced that in the next 20 years, 190 million B/0 will be allocated annually for the Disability, Old Age and Death (IVM) program of the Social Insurance Fund (CSS).

The future of the mining contract will be discussed starting November 24 next year at the Plenary Session of the Supreme Court of Justice, which seeks to resolve the unconstitutionality lawsuits filed.