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Expats in eurozone see pension values rise

expatThe 445,000 retired British expats living in eurozone have been given a 10% boost in their incomes over the last year.

The windfall results from a strong pound as well as the annual increase in payments.

The basic state pension is now at €7,344.44, a rise of €661.24 on a year ago, according to research by Prudential. Three-quarters of this is from the pound's strength against the euro - it hit €1.25 last month, up from €1.17 a year earlier - with the remainder down to the April rise in the payments, which took it from £110.15 to £113.10.

Prudential’s calculations indicate that the increases are more pronounced over the last five years.

Eurozone expat pensioners now get 26% more in euros from their basic state pension than they did five years ago – the equivalent of a pay rise of €1,530 a year.

Many expat retirees, however, are in Commonwealth countries where their pensions are not linked to inflation but are instead frozen at the same amount as when they emigrated.

Some have seen their pensions further reduced in value because of sterling’s weakness against their country’s as well as the effects of inflation.

The freeze on pensions has been around since the 1950s and today affects around 500,000 expats. The UK government says would cost £500m to unfreeze these locked pensions.

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Comments  

+1 #1 Peter Booker 2014-07-11 12:08
I bet the Portuguese taxman has enjoyed this article. Most if not all of this increase will from this year go in increased income tax.

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