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Symbolic picture: Pensioners have to be prepared for a zero round this year
Photo: Frank May / dpa
The usual pension increases will not happen this year.
According to the Federal Ministry of Labor, the Federal Cabinet has approved an ordinance that will implement the previously announced zero round for pensions in the West.
East pensions will rise minimally by 0.72 percent on July 1st - but only because of the gradual adjustment to the western level.
Federal Social Minister Hubertus Heil (SPD) justified the zero round with the corona crisis.
The development of pensions is linked to wages.
These had decreased on average in the corona year 2020.
Since a pension reduction is excluded by a statutory pension guarantee, the salaries in the West now remain at the current level.
However, any pension increases will be halved in the following years until the need for compensation has been reduced.
In the east, pensions will rise slightly this year, because the pension value will gradually be brought into line with that in the west by 2024.
According to the ministry, after the adjustment on July 1, the salaries there will reach 97.9 percent of the value in the west.
It was the last time that a pension increase was canceled after the financial crisis in 2010.
Since then, pensions have increased every year.
zob / AFP
