PRAGUE, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- The Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Czech parliament, on Friday approved the government pension reform that envisages a gradual increase in retirement age.
According to the reform plans, the retirement age, currently at 65, will increase by one month per year to reach the cap of 67 by 2056.
The reform also allows people working in the most demanding professions to retire up to 30 months early, while encouraging working beyond retirement age by waiving employment social insurance.
"The current pension system is unsustainable in the long term. Life expectancy is increasing and the proportion of seniors over 65 is increasing," the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs said in a statement following the approval. "If we want to ensure a dignified old age for future generations in the Czech Republic, adjustments to the pension system responding to changes in society are necessary."
"We approved the most important government amendment. A pension reform that is beneficial for all generations," Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on social media X.
According to him, without the reform changes, the pension system's mid-century deficit would have reached up to 5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or about 350 billion crowns (14.85 billion U.S. dollars) in today's figures. The measures reduce the deficit to about 1 percent of GDP, he was quoted by the Czech News Agency.
The pension bill was approved by 103 of the 188 lawmakers present. It will now be sent to the Senate, the upper house of the parliament, for a debate. ■