When and how many pensioners will be given increases above 6.5%

Within the next month there will be a first fairly clear picture in relation to the percentage of the increase in the main pensions from January 1, 2023.

Based on the Commission’s latest forecasts for GDP and inflation this year, an increase of close to 6.5% is looming, but a higher increase than this (i.e. above 6.5%) is not excluded if newer estimates for a higher GDP (due to the rise of tourism) are verified. , but also higher inflation (due to the ongoing new boom in energy prices).

This is what well-informed sources of Capital.gr state, that then there will be a more secure forecast for GDP and inflation in 2022, i.e. the figures that will determine the amount of the positive adjustment of pensions in the main pension sector for everyone the country’s pensioners.

However, the final decisions will be made much later and specifically at the beginning of 2023, when the relevant statistical agencies will have the last word in relation to the growth (on an annual basis) of the GDP and the price index of 2022.

Thus, the amount of the increase will also be determined at the beginning of 2023 and then the relevant increases will be given.

As the Labor Minister himself said last week, the increases in pensions will not be seen in the January pensions, which are paid at the end of December, but in the payments that will be made from the new year, “since we must first see how much will be closed the price index for the whole of 2022” and obviously any amounts that arise for each beneficiary will then be given retroactively.

Secure information from Capital.gr states that the final statistical estimates for inflation in 2022 are expected around the middle of January 2023, while the first statistical estimates for GDP are expected around the beginning of March 2023.

Based on this data, the final percentage of the pension increase could be determined in mid-March 2023. This means that the pension increases could not be passed before April 2023 and provided that the government earlier than March has a safe picture for the GDP of 20222, social security analysts note. If these scenarios are verified, then pensioners will get 3 months backdated together with the increases that will pass into the April 2023 pensions. That is, they will get the increases collected for January 2023, February 2023 and March 2023 plus, of course , the increases in the current pensions of April 2023.

Let for example be a pensioner with a main pension of 1000 euros on January 1, 2023 and the government decides on a 6.5% increase. This pensioner is entitled to an increase of 65 euros/month. Therefore his pension will amount to 1065 euros/month. If the scenario of paying this increase with the pensions of April 2023 is verified, then together with the additional 65 euros that he will receive at the end of March 2023, he will also receive the amount of 195 euros retroactively (3 months X 65 euros / month).

According to initial estimates, those retirees who will see a real increase in their earnings amount to 1.7 million. The reason for the “new” pensioners, i.e. those who retired after May 13, 2016, but also the “old” (i.e. those who retired before May 13, 2016) with a negative personal difference less than the percentage of the increase from 1 January 2023. The remaining 700,000 “old” pensioners will only see an accounting increase, as the amount of the increase they are entitled to is less than their negative personal difference. This will reduce it, paving the way for real increases from 1 January of 2024.