The amount that Social Security dedicates to contributory benefits continues to rise. According to data provided by the ministry headed by José Luis Escrivá, the State has disbursed 10,832.2 million euros for this purpose in June, which represents an increase of 4.7% in homogeneous terms in relation to the same period of the previous year.
Despite this, spending on contributory pensions remains two tenths below 12% of gross domestic product (GDP), a level that was exceeded in 2020, coinciding with the height of the pandemic.
In addition to paying the June payroll, Social Security has also paid this month the extraordinary pay to nearly nine million pensioners, the amount of which amounts to 10,536.1 million, which represents an increase of 6.6% (5% in homogeneous terms) compared to 2021.
Most of the payroll of contributory benefits (7,837.2 million) is used to pay retirement pensions. The rest corresponds to pensions for widows, permanent disability, orphans and benefits for family members.
The system's average pension rose to 1,090.2 euros per month in June, 5.5% more than a year ago. On the other hand, the average retirement pension stands at 1,254.7 euros, while the average amount of new retirement registrations in the month of May was 1,376.2 euros per month. For its part, the average widow's pension in force in June is 778.7 euros per month.
The Independent Authority for Fiscal Responsibility (AIReF) has warned today that spending on pensions will increase by 8.8% next year, which will make it difficult to comply with the European Commission's recommendation to Spain of fiscal prudence and cost containment ordinary public. This was indicated by the president of AIReF, Cristina Herrero, this Monday in her appearance before the Finance Commission of the Congress of Deputies to explain the Report on the Update of the Stability Program, published by the institution. The increase will make it difficult to limit the growth of primary current spending to 3%, which would be the limit set by potential GDP, commented Herrero.
The latest pension reform includes a new mechanism that establishes that on January 1 of each year pensions will be revalued in accordance with the average annual inflation registered in the previous year, while they will be frozen in the event that an index is registered. of negative consumer prices (CPI). In this sense, the Government approved at the beginning of the year an increase of 2.5% for contributory pensions and 3% for non-contributory ones in 2022, a year in which high inflation rates are being registered -in May it was 8.7%-, which suggests that pensions must be revalued by a much higher percentage than that set for this year.
