Greece’s main social security fund, renamed the Unified Agency for Social Insurance, this week announced that it has allocated 1.439 billion euros in 2017 for more than 183,000 new pensions – primary, supplementary and lump sum payments.
The announcement by the fund, known by the acronym of EFKA, comes amid ongoing scrutiny – primarily by Greece’s institutional creditors – over the level of state arrears towards the private sector covered by the Greek state over recent months, a standing memorandum obligation.
Another 4,200 new pensions, approximately, were recently issued as well, as state services have been ordered to clear applications, many of which were filed months or even years ago.
Some 350 EFKA employees worked over the recent weekend, at 45 out of 82 regional offices, to issue new pensions, an unprecedented development by modern Greek bureaucratic standards.
