As of: February 22, 2024, 3:37 p.m
By: Mark Stoffers
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Minister Hubertus Heil is positive about the pension increase in 2024.
In his opinion, pensions will rise faster than inflation.
Berlin – Pensioners are once again eagerly awaiting the summer.
Because they will receive another pension increase on July 1, 2024.
Federal Labor Minister Hubertus Heil has now made an initial forecast for pension increases and promised all pensioners good news.
Pension increase in July 2024: “Confident that pensions will again rise faster than inflation”
While a pension expert suggests a possible “mega increase” for pensioners, the SPD politician says he believes a pension increase above the inflation rate in the summer of 2024 is likely.
Initial estimates made the federal government “confident that pensions will rise faster than inflation again on July 1st,” Heil told the newspapers of the
Funke media group
in the Saturday editions .
An official forecast assumes a pension increase of 3.5 percent.
An optimistic forecast for pensioners who had received positive news about pension increases in the past two years, but due to the economic situation there was no real increase in purchasing power.
Pension increase in summer 2024: Significant plus for pensioners since 2022
According to the first figures from the German Pension Insurance for 2023, average net pensions rose by 57 euros to 1,209 euros last year.
In the east, pensions increased by 5.86 percent and in the west the increase for pensioners was 4.39 percent.
Together with the increase in 2022, this represents an increase of eleven percent.
These figures include all pension payments from disability, old-age and widow's pensions.
The pensioners who benefited the most were those who received a widower's or widower's pension in addition to their own.
The 4.154 million so-called multiple pension recipients received 1,794 euros for men, which corresponds to a total pension increase of 166 euros in the past two years.
Pensioners received an average of 1,647 euros (+158 euros) more for 2022 and 2023.
Pension increase in 2024: Heil's forecast is based on low inflation
While the new generation of pensioners is worried about having to “collect bottles in retirement”, according to the calculations of the German pension insurance, pensioners in 2023 received another 56 euros and female pensioners 58 euros more in pension than in 2022. However, not much came from them Pension increases from the past two years are in their wallets because, due to high inflation, the bottom line was less and the purchasing power of pensioners was significantly reduced.
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Labor Minister Hubertus Heil sees a positive development in the pension increase in July 2024. © IMAGO / dts news agency
However, Labor Minister Heil is confident that this situation could change as a result of the pension increase in 2024.
His positive forecast for the pension increase in the summer is not based solely, but primarily on this year's inflation rate, which was 2.9 percent in January 2024.
The pension increase last year was “not small”, but remained below the inflation rate.
“Fortunately, inflation is now falling significantly and there have been decent wage agreements,” said Heil.
In addition to a pension increase in the summer of 2024, the minister also does not expect an increase in pension contributions
In addition to the pension increase in the summer of 2024, Heil says he initially sees no signs of an increase in pension contributions in Germany.
Employment in Germany is “at a record level,” said Heil.
The contribution rate has therefore been stable at 18.6 percent since 2018 and will “remain stable for even longer”.
According to him, the planned pension reform of the traffic light coalition should also ensure this in order to prevent significant increases in the future.
Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and he are “very far along” with the reform and will present the new pension package “in a few weeks,” Heil continued.
It is about “securing the level of pensions in the long term”, while others see pensions as “the biggest social problem of our time”.
Without reform, pensions would “fall significantly” in the coming years, said Heil.
The government will prevent this - without further raising the statutory retirement age.
(
with material from afp
)