ATHENS – The Greek government will pay the first pension increases in 12 years to around 1.3 million pensioners in January, Labour and Social Affairs Minister Kostis Hatzidakis said on Wednesday. In comments made to SKAI radio station, Hatzidakis said the government will table a new legislation envisaging the unfreezing of pensions from the start of 2023 and noted that that pension increases also include the abolition of a special solidarity contribution, the extraordinary payment of 250 euros and the 4th recalculation of pensions for pensioners with more than 30 years of insurance.

The pension increases will be based on the addition of the GDP growth rate and the inflation rate for 2022, divided by two. According to the draft budget plan, these increases will total 7%. However, the final budget plan, to be tabled to Pariiament soon, will envisage updated estimates over GDP growth rates in 2022 and these estimates will be used for recalculating pension pay increases. Hatzidakis said that these increases will cover around 95% of pensioners. He stressed that the Labour ministry has made great progress in reducing the number of pending pensions.