Spain To Increase State Pensions By 8.47% In 2023
Spain News
Published: 05 December 2022 16:51 CET
Spain will increase the state pension by 8.47% in 2023 the government has announced.
It means that the benefits will be greater than those in Germany, France, and Italy who along with Spain make up Europe’s top four economies.
The increase is in line with the recent forecast made in the state budget which anticipated a rise of 8.5%.
The boost will be applied to all state pensions including those on the highest incomes which is not the case in other countries such as Portugal and Italy.
One of the main reasons for the rise is due to Spain’s high inflation rate which has been higher than the EU average.
However, there was positive news from the country’s national statistics institute (INE) with data showing that inflation in November had fallen for the fourth consecutive month, down to 6.8% from the high of 10.8% registered in July.
Spain currently enjoys one of the EU lowest inflation rates second only to France. In October, Spain’s rate of inflation was 7.3% with France 7.1%.
In France, pensions will also be increased similar to those in Spain. However, the French government increases pensions according to the average CPI (Consumer Price Index) for the year. With the 2022 inflation currently at 5.8%, the increase will be lower than that enjoyed by Spanish pensioners.
Although Spain will update its pensions from 2023, France has already updated theirs several times this year. There was an increase of 1.1% in January, followed by a rise of 4% in July to counteract the surge in inflation. There is a further increase of 0.8% set for January 2023.
It was not such good news in Germany where pensions are due to increase by around 3.5%.
As Germany revalues pensions in line with an increase in wages rather than inflation. With Germany’s inflation at around 8.5%, German pensioners could lose purchasing power as their pensions will grow by just 3.5% in West Germany and 4.2% in the east of the country.
However, it should be noted that the German government did increase the pensions in July by 5.35% in the West of the country and 6.2% in the East. In addition, the Government will also grant a tax credit of 300 euros to all pensioners to help with energy bills.
Italy also announced that their pensions would be increased in 2023 by 7.3%. A figure that is derived from the average inflation rate between October this year and November last year. Although, not all pensioners will benefit equally from the increase.
Only those with pensions up to 2,100 euros per month will benefit from 100% of the increase. Those with pensions between 2,100 and 2,627 euros per month will receive 90% while those with higher pensions receive 75% of the CPI rate.
Source
https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/5081573/0/espana-concedera-la-subida-mas-generosa-de-las-pensiones-de-las-grandes-economias-de-europa/
