Zagreb - Submitting a report on the work of the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute (HZMO) in 2018, its acting head Ivan Serdar said in the parliament on Thursday that the HZMO had 1.236 million beneficiaries and 1.5 million insurees and that the ratio of retirees to workers was 1:1.22.
The HZMO's revenues totalled HRK 41 billion while outlays for pensions amounted to 39.246 billion, up 4.2% from 2017.
The average monthly pension allowance in December 2018 was HRK 2,405 (€325) and its share in the average net wage was 38.42%, he said.
In a debate that preceded the presentation of the report, Silvano Hrelja of the Croatian Pensioners Party (HSU) said that the HZMO's future was not bright because it lacked financial and business autonomy and served only as an accounting service for the calculation and payment of pensions.
Opposition MPs also objected that the debate about the pension system, which managed funds in the amount of HRK 41 billion, was held in the evening when sessions were not televised live and public attention was low.
Earlier in the debate, opposition Social Democrat Gordan Maras and opposition Democrats MP Mirando Mrsic criticised the HZMO's work, claiming that it had become yet another meal-ticket place for members of the ruling HDZ party, with Mrsić claiming that Labour and Pension System Minister Josip Aladrović had employed his friends at the HZMO at the time when he headed it.