Uzbek Pension Payments Slip Further Behind

Many elderly people in Uzbekistan are finding it impossible to draw their pensions, apparently because of an acute shortage of cash in the banks.

NBCentralAsia understands that as of early December, most pensioners in the capital and in the surrounding Tashkent province had not received payments for October and November, while in other parts of the country, September pensions still had not been paid out.

"Every morning we come to the bank and stand in line," said an old woman queuing at a bank teller’s window. "And every time, we get told the bank has no money."

Many are left struggling to pay for food and utilities.

"Food costs a minimum of 70,000 Uzbek soms [35 US dollars], but we aren’t getting our money on time," said one female pensioner. "It's OK if there are children and grandchildren around to help out in time of need. But what about those who are alone? Many of them have eaten up all their reserves long ago."

An elderly man from Tashkent said, "My [monthly] pension is 120,000 sums [60 dollars]," says an elderly man from Tashkent. "Half of it goes on utilities and medicines. I don’t buy much food, so I have to make it last over the whole of the month."

From December 1, the official minimum pension was raised to the equivalent of 50 dollars a month.

The current delays to pensions date back to 2008, when the authorities started paying pensions via plastic cards, initially as a pilot in Tashkent region and later expanded nationwide. Rather than streamlining the process, the switchover simply meant pensioners were left unable to draw cash. (See Uzbek Pensioners Reluctant to Switch to Plastic Cards.)

Analysts say the government is so short of income that it cannot afford to pay pensions right now.

"We haven’t any revenues from [this year’s] cotton sales yet, while tax collection is minimal because the economy is almost all undeclared," said a local expert who asked not to be named.

Victor Ivonin, an economist in Tashkent, predicts that the delays will continue.

"There are limited funds in the state budget, and a choice has to be made about whether to invest in the economy or settle up with the public on time," he said. "The authorities are of course opting for the former, otherwise the country will be overwhelmed by inflation."

(NBCA is an IWPR-funded project to create a multilingual news analysis and comment service for Central Asia, drawing on the expertise of a broad range of political observers across the region. The project ran from August 2006 to September 2007, covering all five regional states. With new funding, the service has resumed, covering Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.)