MOSCOW, January 17 (RIA Novosti) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets rejected a call by a Cabinet colleague to increase the pension age Friday, saying that the issue would not be discussed for at least a decade.
“This matter is closed,” Golodets told attendees of the annual Gaidar Economic Forum in Moscow.
Last year the Russian government passed a series of reforms to country’s pension system, but critics say that the system, which runs a large annual deficit, cannot be fixed without increasing the pension age.
President Vladimir Putin has said that he is opposed to increasing the pension age, which in Russia is 60 years old for men and 55 for women.
If Putin wins a fourth presidential term in 2018, he will serve as Russia’s leader for another 10 years.
Golodets appeared to be responding to comments made earlier this week by Finance Minister Anton Siluanov, who said that changes to the pension age should be under discussion now.
“Without a decision [on the pension age], the issue of balancing the pension system cannot be resolved,” Siluanov said during the same Moscow conference Wednesday.
The pension system’s deficit, which is covered from the budget, is expected to get worse as Russia’s demographic dynamics mean that the working-age population is predicted to shrink rapidly in the coming years.
