Pensioners in the Czech Republic will receive CZK 300 more a month starting from 2017, Radio Prague has reported.

While the three parties in the Czech Republic’s coalition government had initially agreed to increase old-age pensions by CZK 200 in January, it was confirmed this weekend, ahead of a debate on the issue this week, that they all support the CZK 300 rise.

Speaking on Czech Television on Sunday, Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka of the Social Democrats said his peers agree with the pension increase that had been instigated by the party’s Minister for Labour and Social Affairs, Michaela Marksová.

“In my view this is a more advantageous alternative for pensioners than an average CZK 200 a month increase and a one-off contribution of CZK 1,200. So we support index-linking of CZK 300 crowns. I’m also glad that in recent months the Social Democrats have succeeded in shaping the character of the budget currently being prepared. Because we think that when the economy is going well that people should benefit” Sobotka said.

Furthermore, the ANO minister of finance Andrej Babiš revealed that he had located CZK 3.5bn in state reserves to cover the increased monthly payments.

Opposition of the Civic Democrats Petr Fiala agreed with the decision but believes the government is yet to address other issues: “Of course they should index-link pensions. The question is how. We don’t want to see percentage index-linking creating gaps between individual groups of pensioners.

"But still it doesn’t deal with the basic problem of how we will pay for pensions in the future. Because the coalition have abolished some pension reforms, like the second pillar of the pension system, without putting forward their own solutions.”

The three parties will discuss the pension increase further at a meeting on Wednesday.

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