TEL AVIV (Haaretz), May 26, 2005:
Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Thursday that he will return some funds to old-age pensions that were cut in 2003.
Netanyahu said that starting this July, the Finance Ministry will increase the pension budget for elderly citizens who have no other source of income by NIS 180 per month.
Pensions for the elderly have remained unchanged since 2001. In July 2003, Netanyahu sought to cut the pensions as part of a larger plan that also included reductions in allowances for the handicapped and unemployed. Elderly pensions were cut by 4 percent, and the over-all pension for elderly citizens with no other source of income stood at NIS 1,863 per month. State support for assistance to the elderly was also reduced.
The new increase in pensions, intended to remedy problems with the 2003 reduction, was announced in TheMarker in April.
Netanyahu emphasized that the old-age pension increase is one of many other economic moves that the Finance Ministry has made recently, including lowering the income tax and reducing National Insurance payments for lower socioeconomic groups.
By Moti Bassok, Nitzan Cohen
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