By: Moja Dolenjska
The board of the Pension and Disability Insurance Institute (ZPIZ) will determine the pension adjustment (increase) at today’s session. The institute’s financial plan anticipates a 4.6% adjustment, but according to forecasts, the increase will only be 4.5%.
The regular pension adjustment in February is calculated based on the systemic pension law, which stipulates that 60% of the average gross wage growth and 40% of the average increase in the cost of living from the previous year must be considered.
According to data published on Monday, the average monthly wage in 2024 was €2,394.92 gross, which is nominally 6.2% higher than in 2023. The Statistical Office of the Republic of Slovenia (SURS) had already announced in December that the average annual inflation rate was 2%.
Based on these figures, the expected pension increase is calculated at 4.5%, which will apply for the entire year of 2025. The ZPIZ board’s decision still needs government approval. If confirmed, ZPIZ will also pay a retroactive adjustment for January at the end of February.
Under this adjustment, the guaranteed pension for a full career will now amount to €782 (previously €748), the minimum pension will be €352, and the minimum disability pension will be €490.
The ruling coalition, led by Robert Golob (Gibanje Svoboda, SD, and Levica), has been neglectful toward pensioners and disabled persons. Last year, the government abolished extraordinary pension adjustments (the current regular one is mandatory) and did not pay out a Christmas bonus.
Additionally, the government still owes pensioners and recipients of disability benefits 60% of one monthly pension. Pensions in 2023 were lower in real terms, and the government decided to adjust them by 4.5%. Both Prime Minister Robert Golob and Minister of Labour, Family, and Social Affairs Luka Mesec publicly confirmed this.
The promise of an additional 4.5% extraordinary increase in 2023 was made after public sector wages and social transfers were raised due to high inflation.
Considering this, pensions should have increased by 9.7% in 2023, but the government only raised them by 5.2%, ignoring the rest.
In Slovenia, 58% of all pensioners receive pensions below the poverty risk threshold. In February 2024, this threshold was set at €903 per month, meaning around 310,000 pensioners receive less than this amount monthly.