The government is allocating 122 million euros to give a group of elderly Surinamese a one-off payment for their state pension shortfall. This was announced by the government in the Spring Memorandum that was sent to the House of Representatives today. The cabinet calls it a “gesture of recognition”.
This concerns more than 30,000 elderly people who have moved from Suriname to the Netherlands. Only in the Netherlands did they start building up their state pension. This while in Suriname they already fell under Dutch law. The country was still under Dutch rule until 1975, but the group did not accrue state pension in Suriname.
This created an old-age pension gap, as a result of which the elderly now receive a much lower monthly benefit. They lose up to hundreds of euros per month.
For years, the elderly have been trying to get compensation for the state pension gap. In 2018, for example, an interest group raised the issue. A report followed in 2021 in which the Minister of Social Affairs and Employment “embraced” an advice to close the state pension gap. Nevertheless, the Council of State advised later that year that the elderly could not claim compensation. Now it has arrived.
- RvS: no reason to compensate for the AOW shortfall of Surinamese Dutch people
- Advice: close the state pension gap of Surinamese Dutch people. Will it happen?
- Older Surinamese again demand a solution for the state pension gap
