• Mobilizations. Pensioners heat the election campaign: they will surround Congress again to demand "decent pensions"

Pensioners and officials will register a significant gain in purchasing power during this year, to the point that their respective pension and salary improvements will double and triple, respectively, the rebound in inflation. This follows from the update that the Bank of Spain has carried out from its macroeconomic picture and in which, in addition to significantly lowering the estimates of growth and job creation, it has also revised downwards its IPC forecast.

Specifically, the agency that directs Pablo Hernández de Cos anticipates that inflation will be just 0.8% in 2019 , three tenths less than the estimate he made in June. In contrast, pensions increased 1.6% at the beginning of the year as a result of the agreement signed by the Government of Mariano Rajoy and the PNV, and by which the Basque Nationalist Party gave its support to the 2018 Budgets. Both parties they closed that the benefits would rebound that 1.6% in both 2018 and 2019, and the Pedro Sánchez Executive decided to increase the improvement one tenth, up to 1.7%, in the past year.

For this year, on the other hand, this agreement will allow Sánchez to go to 10-N with an improvement in pensions that will not only maintain the purchasing power of the benefits, but will increase them well above the increase in the cost of living provided by the Bank of Spain.

This significant improvement, however, does not prevent retirees from having already entered the electoral campaign demanding that in 2020 pensions rise more than 0.25 % marked by the current law and that, without a government with capacity to act, it will be revaluation which will foreseeably be applied. For that year, the estimated inflation is 1.1%, so that, in the beginning, pensioners could lose purchasing power but, without a doubt, the future Executive will correct that situation as soon as it is formed.

The profit of the officials

The officials, on the other hand, experienced a 2.25% salary improvement at the beginning of this year, an increase that is part of the multi-year agreement signed by the previous Minister of Finance and also of Public Function, Cristóbal Montoro, with the union representatives. To this they have added an additional 0.25% that was linked to the growth of GDP, and some of them have been able to even reach 2.75% thanks to the so-called additional funds.

Precisely for them to receive that quarter-point linked to economic growth, GDP had to rebound 2.5% in 2018. At first, the National Statistics Institute (INE) set the progress at 2.6%, with that the Government proceeded to pay an additional 0.25%. But last week, this same agency reduced the data to 2.4%, so that requirement would no longer be met. However, in the agreement it was established that the data to be taken into account would be advanced, so there will be no revision, explain from Public Function. In short, that the salary improvement of officials this year is at least 2.5%, which is three times higher than inflation .

Regarding the reasons for this low inflation that is boosting the purchasing power of pensioners and officials - and that will remain in time -, the Bank of Spain explains that « the dynamism of the energy component has been lower than expected , as a result of negative surprises in the prices of electricity, gas and fuels and fuels ». Special mention is made by the supervisor of the oil situation, which although it has registered "high volatility" in recent weeks, is in a trend of "cheaper and" falls. "

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