The cost of the so-called 14th pension, a new permanent allowance for old-age pensioners, will exceed the 2023 plan by EUR 2 billion, the family and social policy minister has said.

“If to take into account a net 14th pension at PLN 2,200 (EUR 489), or PLN 2,650 (EUR 589) gross per person, which will be paid out to around 9 million people, its 2023 cost for the state budget will exceed by nearly PLN 9 billion (EUR 2 billion) the plan of PLN 11.6 billion (EUR 2.6 billion), Minister Marlena Malag told a Catholic radio programme on Monday.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the deputy prime minister and the leader of the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, announced on Sunday that the 14th pension net per person would amount to PLN 2,200 (EUR 489). 

Andrzej Duda, the Polish president, signed into law a bill which changed a temporary bonus, the so-called 14th pension, into a permanent allowance for old-age pensioners on July 19. 

The allowance will be paid, as it has been the case so far, at least at the level of the minimum pension, with an eligibility threshold of PLN 2,900 (EUR 646). 

The PiS government had earlier written into law the 13th pension. 

PiS has recently unveiled new social welfare measures, which include a raise in the monthly child benefit to PLN 800 (EUR 178) from PLN 500 (EUR 111), free medicines for people over the age of 65 and those under 18, and the scrapping of motorway tolls for private motorists.