Montenegro’s government short 7–8 million euros for 100-euro pension aid, analyst warns

As Vijesti reports, analyst Marko Sošić of Institute Alternativa calculates that Montenegro’s government is nearly eight million euros short of paying the promised one-off 100-euro aid to pensioners if it takes five million euros from the budget reserve, which currently holds around five million euros in “free” funds.

According to Sošić, 12–13 million euros are needed in total, but no budget rebalancing will be necessary. If pensioners “eat up” the reserve, another 7–8 million euros will have to be shifted from other budget lines. He says the announced payment points to problems in planning state spending and that the effect of a non-selective aid is questionable, since everyone will receive the same amount — regardless of the size of their pension.

According to Vijesti, around 129,000 pensioners receive pensions from the PIO Fund, of whom 11,000 live abroad. The Finance Ministry did not answer Vijesti’s questions — how much the promised 100-euro payment to pensioners will cost in total, from which budget funds it will be financed and whether the money is foreseen in the 2026 budget; nor did Prime Minister Milojko Spajić’s cabinet respond.

Prime Minister Spajić announced on 17 September, during the presentation of the government’s new “Euro model” program for wage growth, that all pensioners would receive an extra 100 euros in December as winter aid. The “Euro model”, whose implementation is announced from January 2027, also foresees pensions being harmonized four times a year, to track wage growth.

Sošić specifies that the 2026 budget reserve is planned at 39.87 million euros. Around 5.4 million went to the Independence Day celebration, summer festivals in Ulcinj and Budva and international gatherings; 3.5 million were allocated to firefighting. He says the key question is not whether the state has 12–13 million euros, but what it will achieve with that money — and that, using PIO Fund and social card data, the aid could be targeted more precisely at those who need it most.