Pensions and salaries possibly frozen for a third year in a row. What the new Government will decide

The new Government, immediately after taking office, must settle several decisions with a direct impact on Romanians' incomes for the coming year: raising the minimum wage, indexing pensions, and setting public sector salary levels. The problem is that public debt has already exceeded 60%, and the Ministry of Finance maintains that there are no resources available for increases, which could lead to pensions and salaries being frozen for the third consecutive year.

What issues the incoming Executive has on its agenda

According to information from Realitatea PLUS, the urgent matters include:

• The minimum wage – trade unions are calling for it to be raised to 5,000 RON.
• Pension indexation in line with the inflation rate – several options are being considered, ranging from an estimated inflation rate of 2.9% to a pension increase of between 7% and 10%.
• Public sector salaries – a potential increase is under discussion.
• CASS on pensions – the Government must decide whether to retain or abolish the CASS payment on pensions exceeding 3,000 RON. There is also a scenario involving lowering the threshold at which this contribution applies.

Final decisions are expected to be taken in the coming period, against the backdrop of the budgetary constraints flagged by the Ministry of Finance.