Parliamentary Budget Office: What do the insured owe to the funds and what do the funds owe to the insured

By Dimitris Katsaganis

The 3rd quarterly report of the Budget Office of the Parliament makes a special reference to the debts of the insured to the funds, but also to the debts of the funds to the insured.

Regarding the debts to the funds, the Budget Office states that according to the 3rd Quarterly Progress Report for the year 2021 of KEAO, the total overdue insurance debts at the end of September 2021 amounted to 38.8 billion euros, ie an increase of 771.8 million euros compared to the previous quarter. This increase comes from the increase of both additional fees (by 384 million euros) and principal debts (by 387.7 million euros).

On an annual basis, the number of debtors’ registers increased by 47,415, with the result that the total number of registers with debts to insurance funds is at the end of the third quarter of 2021 at 2,093,286 registers. Most of the increase in registers (by 40,869) comes from the debt category between 50 and 500 euros, while a decrease of 13,250 is the number of registers related to debts from 500 to 10,000 euros.

In addition, there is an increase in total debts by about 1.4 billion euros compared to the same period last year, which is due to an increase in additional fees, as the main debts decreased by 72.3 million euros. More specifically, in the debt category between 10,000 and 100,000 euros, in which 42.9% of the debts accumulate, there is the largest reduction of main debts to the insurance funds (by 382.2 million euros). On the contrary, there is an increase in the other debt categories with the largest being in the debt range between 100,000 and 1,000,000 euros (increase by 118 million euros).

THE implementation of the Budget of the insurance funds at the end of the third quarter of 2021 shows a deficit of 589 million euros, recording a deterioration of 288 million euros compared to the corresponding period of 2020 (deficit 301 million euros), as revenues increased by 828 million euros and expenditures increased by EUR 1,116 million. The increase in revenues is mainly due to the increase in transfers from the state budget (by 571 million euros) and the increased contributions8 and debt settlements (by 451 million euros), while the receipts for third parties are increased by 72 million euros. . The other revenues appear reduced by 264 million euros, mainly due to the reduction of revenues from social resources (decrease by 182 million euros) and in particular from OAED to e-EFKA after the reduction of the relevant contributions for employees.

The expenditure on the payment of pensions (main and auxiliary) are increased by EUR 638 million, other benefits and lump sums are increased by EUR 80 million, returns to third parties are increased by EUR 145 million and other costs (including EUR 105 million). for retroactive pensions) are increased by EUR 252 million.

According to the data made available to us by e-EFKA, at the end of September 2021 2,707,020 pensions were paid to 2,427,783 retirees, a number slightly lower than at the end of the second quarter of 2021 when 2,707,392 pensions were paid (to 2,433 .921 retirees), but increased compared to September 2020 (2,705,684 pensions paid to 2,451,472 retirees). The total number of outstanding main pension applications9 decreased slightly, from 125,504 at the end of June 2021 (and an estimated cost of around € 428 million) to 125,373 (and an estimated cost of around € 420.4 million). Overdue (over 90 days pending) retirement applications increased from 98,695 at the end of June 2021 (estimated cost around € 410.4 million) to 99,404 at the end of September 2021 (estimated cost around € 408 million). The following table shows the evolution of outstanding and overdue retirement applications (main pension) at the end of each quarter for the years 2019 to 2021, as well as the relevant estimated cost.