Discussions about the possible raising of retirement age threshold in Latvia is unavoidable, said Prime Minister Krišjānis Kariņš at an extraordinary meeting of the government held on Thursday, the 6th of April.
He said this during a discussion of the state of the country’s economy and options to improve it after looking at the report on Latvia’s Stability programme 2023-2026.
Kariņš said that because of the demographic situation, the number of labourers in the country will start going down if nothing is done. He said this would halt economic growth.
The PM said the situation is similar in all of Europe. This is why there will likely be fights over labourers.
Kariņš said this topic will need to be seriously discussed in the government, adding that solutions are needed, because the population cannot be increased using demographic support measures alone, especially considering that the number of newborns has gone down by half after the restoration of independence.
As for the large burden from retirement pensions, Kariņš said this issue needs to be resolved, because there is no country in the world that can afford paying people for a period of 40-50 years.
The PM also stressed that discussions on raising the pension age – 65 years – will inevitably happen, adding that the government will “make one step at a time”.
“If we don’t do this, our children will not be able to support us after we retire,” he said.
He did not mention any possible new pension age threshold.
Commenting on the PM’s words, Minister of Welfare Evika Siliņa told Latvijas Radio programme Krustpunktā that efforts to increase the retirement age still continue in Latvia, adding that the age threshold is expected to reach 65 years by the year 2025.
She said raising the retirement age was not in her plans at the beginning.
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