Turkmenistan

March 19, 2007

Turkmenistan's new president restored pensions to more than 100,000 elderly citizens and resumed maternity payments, scrapping one of his autocratic predecessor's most unpopular reforms, officials said Monday.

Under the new Code of Social Guarantees signed into law by President Gurbanguli Berdymukhamedov on Saturday, "all retirees whose pensions have been taken away will get them back," the Social Ministry said 

The code, published by official newspapers Monday, raises pensions for widows of WWII veterans to 1 million manat, about US$40 (€30). According to the ministry, it also envisages an unspecified raise for other retirees.

The minimum pension in Turkmenistan is currently about 300,000 manat, US$12 (€9) per month.

The new Code also restores monthly maternity payments of 250,000 manat, about US$10 (€7), which are paid for 18 months after the birth of a child, and introduces a one-time payment for each newborn.

Former President Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled with an iron fist for more than two decades before his death in December, had taken pensions away from more than 100,000 retirees, mostly farmers, slashed pensions for others and canceled maternity and sick leave in February 2006, citing budget problems.