Labour and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan said on Tuesday, 3 November, that the government is working on an improvement to pensions on top of the increases already set by law, with the aim of applying it from January 2027, ANKA and DHA reported.
Işıkhan made the remarks while presenting his ministry’s 2027 budget to the Plan and Budget Committee of the Turkish parliament, where ministry budgets are being examined as set out in our parliament week preview.
No figure yet for the extra increase
According to ANKA and DHA, the minister said the work is being carried out under Vice President Cevdet Yılmaz together with Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek and other economic institutions. He said the results would be shared with the public and submitted to parliament once the study is completed. Neither report gave an amount, a percentage or a list of which pensioner groups would be covered.
The minister listed the recent rises in the lowest pension: 16,881 lira in the second half of 2025, 20,000 lira from January 2026 and 23,552 lira from July 2026, according to ANKA, DHA and Anadolu Agency (AA). He said 483.4 billion lira has been paid in religious holiday bonuses to pensioners since 2018.
For civil servants and civil-servant retirees, the current collective agreement provides increases of 5% and 4% in 2027, plus any inflation difference, ANKA and DHA reported.
2.4 trillion lira ministry budget
The ministry’s proposed 2027 budget is about 2.396 trillion lira, ANKA, DHA and AA reported. Almost all of it is transfers: about 2.266 trillion lira to the Social Security Institution (SGK), which pays pensions and covers state health insurance, and about 121.9 billion lira to İŞKUR, the public employment agency.
Işıkhan said SGK revenues are expected to cover 88% of its spending by the end of 2026, compared with 71.5% in 2002, according to ANKA and AA. The number of active insured people has risen 115% since 2002 to about 26 million, and the informal employment rate has fallen from 52% in 2002 to 24.4%, both agencies reported.
The number of medicines reimbursed by the state stands at 8,845, with 253 added in 2026, 29 of them for cancer treatment, ANKA and AA reported. On premium debts, the deferral interest rate for applications made until 31 August 2026 was cut to 29% from 39%, and 325 billion lira of SGK premium receivables has been placed on instalment plans, according to the same agencies.
Sources
- Plan ve Bütçe Komisyonu… Bakan Işıkhan’dan emekli aylığı açıklaması (ANKA)
- Emekli maaşlarına ek zam geliyor mu? Bakan Işıkhan’dan açıklama (Yeni Asır / DHA)
- Bakan Işıkhan TBMM’de 2027 bütçesini sundu (Sivas İrade / AA)
Photo: Clemens Holzmeister (1893-1983) Makril / CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
