Murati: €102 million reallocated for the 13th salary, work experience and pensions

The Government of Kosovo has approved a draft law enabling the reallocation of €102 million from the budget. The funds will be used for the 13th salary for public-sector employees, retroactive compensation for the difference in the work-experience allowance, and basic pensions.

At a government meeting, Finance Minister Hekuran Murati said most of the amount would be transferred to the wage contingency fund.

Murati explained that the fund would first cover the cost of the 13th salary for public officials. The remainder will go toward retroactive payments arising from the 0.5 percent difference in the work-experience allowance, in implementation of the Constitutional Court’s ruling.

The minister said that, through the Budget Appropriations Law, the 0.5 percent allowance has been covered starting this year. However, he said the period from the entry into force of the Law on Wages through the end of last year remained uncovered, and the new allocation is intended to cover precisely that period.

The reallocation also includes €20 million for basic pensions.

According to Murati, this amount is needed to cover the growing number of beneficiaries in the pension scheme and the natural increase in the number of pensioners.

Last year, too, the government allocated a 13th salary for public-sector employees.

The 0.5 percent allowance applies to work experience in the public sector. Under the previous scheme, employees received an additional 0.5 percent of their base salary for each year of experience.

As a result, an employee with 10 years of experience received an allowance equal to 5 percent of their base salary.

After the Law on Wages came into force in 2022, the method for calculating this allowance changed. For the first 15 years of work, the rate was reduced to 0.25 percent for each year, while the 0.5 percent rate continued to apply for years beyond the 15th.

The approved reallocation is also intended to ensure retroactive payments for the difference created by this change, covering the period from the entry into force of the Law on Wages through the end of last year.