Retirees will see more money in their accounts as early as March. As every year, the amounts of benefits paid by ZUS will be indexed in this month. This year, they will increase by as much as 2.98 percent. Such a large increase is due to the fact that wage growth was higher than could have been expected after the first three quarters of 2017.
As a result, the minimum pension and disability pension will increase by PLN 29.80. This is the highest indexation in five years, which is why retirees across the country are waiting for this year's March with exceptional impatience. In 2017, indexation amounted to just 0.44 percent. No application needs to be submitted, as ZUS will increase the disability or retirement pension automatically.
“The role of indexation is to maintain the purchasing power of pensions,” says Iwona Kowalska, regional press spokesperson for ZUS in Lower Silesia. “Every year, the amount obtained by multiplying the pension by the indexation rate is added to the pensions being paid.”
The inflation rate is based directly on economic data from the previous year, specifically the average annual price index for consumer goods and services, which is additionally increased by at least 20 percent of the real growth in average wages.
To check how much our benefit will increase, we need to multiply it by the indexation rate, which this year is 102.98 percent. At ZUS, the following benefits are subject to indexation: retirement pensions, disability pensions due to incapacity for work, survivors’ pensions, teachers’ compensatory benefits, as well as supplements to these benefits, such as the nursing allowance or the allowance for complete orphans, pre-retirement benefits and allowances, and social pensions. The indexation will cover benefits granted by the end of February 2018.
What do you think?