If public finances allow, the government also admits to giving an additional payment (paid only once) to pensioners with lower incomes, as it did in 2025 and 2024.

By law, pensions are updated in January of each year based on two indicators: the average growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the last two years and the average variation of the last 12 months of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) excluding available housing on November 30th.

This Friday, the INE (National Institute of Statistics) confirmed the data regarding the evolution of the economy in the third quarter and released the preliminary estimate of inflation recorded in November, which now allows for the calculation of regular updates that will be applied to pensions in January 2026.

Thus, according to ECO's calculations, the lowest pensions (up to twice the Social Support Index — €1,074) will increase by 2.8% in January. According to the Minister of Labour, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, most old-age pensions fall into this category.

Intermediate pensions (between €1,074 and €3,222) will be entitled to a regular adjustment of 2.27% next year, that is, the same as inflation. Regarding the highest pensions (above €3,222), a 0.25 percentage point discount is applied in relation to inflation, which means that, in this case, the increase will be 2.02%.

Note that even pensions granted in 2025 will have access to these regular updates. Until 2024, the rule dictated that pensions only increased two years after their granting, but the rule has changed.

The ECO report notes that the opposition tried to include permanent extraordinary increases for pensioners in the 2026 State Budget, but the AD government closed the door.

Instead, it approved an article that provides that the Executive will proceed with the payment of an extraordinary supplement to pensions, but only "based on the evolution of budget execution and the respective trends in terms of revenue and expenditure".

If confirmed, it will be the third consecutive year in which the Government will grant a bonus of this type. Finance Minister Joaquim Miranda Sarmento has already warned, however, that it will be "much more difficult" to grant this supplement in 2026, justifying it with the weight of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR) loans on public accounts, which leaves little budgetary leeway.