Montenegro may need to reallocate €7-8 million from other 2026 budget lines to finance a promised €100 one-off payment to pensioners, adding pressure to already limited fiscal reserves.
The payment, planned for December, could cost about €12-13 million based on roughly 129,000 pension beneficiaries, according to Institut Alternativa researcher Marko Sošić.
The estimate includes about 11,000 pensioners living abroad, although the government has not clarified whether they will qualify.
Sošić estimates that only around €5 million of Montenegro’s current budget reserve remains genuinely uncommitted, meaning most of the remaining cost would have to be covered by reallocating other expenditure.
The Finance Ministry and prime minister’s office had not publicly identified the funding source by Sept. 28.
Montenegro initially budgeted €39.87 million for the current reserve in 2026.
Around €21 million was already earmarked for specific programmes, including €10.6 million for the Credit Guarantee Fund and €4 million for airline-promotion support.
At least another €14 million had been allocated by July for other spending, including around €5.4 million for Independence Day events, festivals and international activities and €3.5 million for wildfire response.
Sošić said the pension payment should not require a supplementary budget if money is shifted from other appropriations.
That would make the immediate issue one of expenditure allocation rather than overall fiscal capacity.
Montenegro has benefited from stronger tax receipts this year, with gross Tax Administration revenue approaching €1.2 billion in the first eight months, around €98 million more than a year earlier.
But several fiscal pressures are building ahead of 2027.
The government is preparing its proposed Euro Model, including minimum net wages of €1,000, €1,250 and €1,400, while reduced fuel excise duties have already lowered mineral-oil tax revenue.
The pension payment is small relative to the overall budget and is unlikely on its own to threaten fiscal stability.
But its funding has become relevant as Montenegro strengthens public-finance controls ahead of EU accession and prepares a much larger investment programme.
If the payment costs close to €13 million and only €5 million of uncommitted reserve remains, the government will need either stronger-than-planned revenue or spending cuts elsewhere.
The immediate test is therefore not whether Montenegro can afford the payment, but whether it can identify the funding transparently without weakening other budget commitments.
