Government pledges 3.8 pc pension hike in January

Pensions and pension-related payments for people who retired before 2017 will increase by 3.8 percent in January, Human Resources Minister Zoltán Balog announced at a press conference on Thursday.

Balog said that the annual hike stipulated by law was 3 percent, which would be granted to people retiring this year.

The minister said that

the government was working to build “a Hungary based on the solidarity of generations”.

He said that “the government holds in great esteem the elderly who have worked several decades to bring the country to its current state and the government wants to share with them the yields of the economy”.

Balog also said the government had succeeded in “retaining the value of pensions and giving the elderly bonuses” on top of their pensions. He pointed to the government’s expectations of economic growth of “around 4 percent” next year, and pledged that the benefits would be shared with seniors. Similarly to this year, the end of 2018 will bring about a pension bonus, Balog said, adding that the government has budgeted over 32 billion forints (EUR 102m) for that purpose.

Source: MTI