President signs amendment raising child benefit

President Andrzej Duda has signed an amended law that raises Poland's 500 Plus monthly child benefit from PLN 500 (EUR 113) to PLN 800 (EUR 181).

The signing took place at a family picnic in the town of Tarczyn, central Poland, attended also by Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and Family and Social Policy Minister Marlena Maląg.

The raise in the allowance was announced in late May by Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party (PiS). But he said at the time that the hike was not feasible before parliamentary elections scheduled for this autumn because it may increase inflation.

In late June, Morawiecki said after a cabinet meeting that high inflation had failed to make a dent in the programme's financial resources and that tightening the tax system had allowed the government to hike the benefit to PLN 800.

The new benefit will come into force on January 1 of next year.

The change constitutes a 60-percent raise of the ruling party's flagship 500 plus programme introduced in 2016. All families with children under 18 regardless of the parents' income are eligible for the benefit.

According to Maląg, around seven million children would benefit from the 800 Plus programme.

Boosting the child benefit to PLN 800 is expected to cost Poland's budget around PLN 24 billion (EUR 5.43 billion) every year.