On Thursday, the Senate proposed nearly 30 amendments to the 2025 budget bill. The bill will now return to the Sejm. The amendments were intended, among other things, to adapt the long-term plans already included in the budget to recent government resolutions.
Senators voted on a total of 84 amendments to the budget act for next year, of which 28 of them previously received a positive recommendation from the budget and public finance committee.
The budget law was passed by the Sejm on December 6.
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Senate amendments to the 2025 budget
The amendments adopted by senators included: those aimed at adapting the long-term plans already included in the budget to recent resolutions of the Council of Ministers. This concerns funds spent on multi-annual programs – in some cases they were increased (revitalization and expansion of the National Oncological Institute), in others they were decreased (e.g. in the case of investments in the National Institute of Cardiology). Senators also supported the introduction of a new multi-year program for the construction of the campus of the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. As part of the amendments, the Senate agreed to transfer the funds not spent this year for the development of the Słupsk region and the north-eastern border areas to 2025.
The amendments that assumed budget shifts, e.g. for local investments such as the construction of schools, hospitals or roads, did not gain the support of the upper house of parliament. The changes that provided for the allocation of billions of zlotys to increase public sector salaries by 15%, and not by 5%, as is currently planned, did not win the majority. Amendments aimed at restoring the level of financing of the Supreme Court also failed, Institute of National Remembrance or the Constitutional Tribunal to the level specified in the draft act. In the case of the Constitutional Tribunal, this concerns funds for the remuneration of the judges of the tribunal.
60 senators voted for the adoption of the resolution on the budget, 29 voted against. Now the bill will return to the Sejm, which will vote on the Senate's amendments. Then the bill will go to the president.
Assumptions for the budget act for 2025
The Budget Act for 2025 assumes that state revenues will amount to PLN 632.6 billion, expenses will not exceed PLN 921.6 billion, and the budget deficit will reach a maximum of PLN 289 billion, i.e. 7.3%. GDP. The budget act was prepared on the assumption that in 2025 the GDP growth would amount to 3.9%, and inflation average annual – 5 percent
The budget for 2025 includes a record amount of PLN 124.3 billion for national defense, including an increase in the salaries of professional soldiers. Compared to 2024, this is an increase of PLN 6.2 billion. Together with the expenditure of the Armed Forces Support Fund, next year's expenditure on national defense will reach PLN 186.6 billion, i.e. it will be PLN 28.6 billion higher than planned for this year. This means that in 2025 expenses for Polish army will be 4.7 percent GDP; this year it is 4.2 percent. GDP.
According to the budget, the increase in wages next year will be 7%, 5%. the base amount for teachers' salaries and for state budget employees, including officers and soldiers, employees of ministries and central and provincial offices will increase. The employee remuneration fund will also be increased ZUS and KRUS. PLN 24.2 billion was allocated for the indexation of pension benefits from March 1, 2025, including for officers and the remuneration of retired judges and prosecutors.
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