The amendments stipulate that pensions are to be indexed by 50% of the average wage growth as opposed to the current 25%. The index is tied to wages as social contributions are paid from them.
Accordingly, retirement benefits should be increased by the index of 1.0408 in 2017 and 1.0413 the next two years.
An extra €3.4m will be necessary for indexing pensions in 2017, €17.6m in 2018 and €33.9m in 2019.
Pensions in Latvia are indexed annually on October 1. LSM estimates that pensions could grow €10 on the average.
Data by the Central Statistics Bureau say that in the 4th quarter of 2015 the average monthly retirement benefit in Latvia was €276.75.
