Polish president OKs cash boost for pensioners
PR dla Zagranicy
Grzegorz Siwicki
23.04.2019 17:15
Poland's president has signed into law a plan to give pensioners a cash boost, a move pledged by the country's ruling conservatives as part of a new package of benefits.
Aides watch as President Andrzej Duda signs the "Pension Plus" initiative into law during a special ceremony at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Tuesday. Photo: PAP/Radek Pietruszka
President Andrzej Duda greenlighted the measure at a special ceremony on Tuesday after it passed in a 81-1 vote with two abstentions in the upper house of parliament this month.
The legislation was earlier overwhelmingly approved by the lower chamber of Poland's bicameral parliament.
A total of PLN 10.7 billion (EUR 2.5 bn, USD 2.8 bn) in additional handouts will be paid out to more than 9.7 million pensioners in May under the government’s “Pension Plus” initiative, Elżbieta Rafalska, the minister for family, labour and social policy, told a news conference last month.
The payments will be offered on a one-off basis and be equivalent in each case to the minimum monthly pension of PLN 1,100 gross, Rafalska said.
The payouts are part of an ambitious new set of spending pledges unveiled by Poland’s governing conservatives during a party convention in late February.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has said that Poland’s pensioners can expect regular annual cash boosts in the future if his ruling conservatives stay in power.
(gs)
Source: PAP