Poland approves child benefit hike as election looms

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish families will receive a 60% increase in child benefit payments from next January, under a policy the ruling nationalists hope will help win them a third term in office in a national election due this autumn.

Introduced in 2016, the "500+" child benefit programme has proven hugely popular among Poles keen to see living standards move closer to those of western Europe, helping the Law and Justice (PiS) party to attract support well beyond its conservative Catholic base.

"We need the development of the Republic of Poland, we need social development, we need demographic development," President Andrzej Duda, a PiS ally, said after he signed the increase into law. "The greatest support for development in the future is the family."

However, with double-digit inflation eating into living standards and the presence of fighters from Russia's private Wagner mercenary force in neighbouring Belarus adding to worries about security, PiS faces a tough fight in the election, which is expected to take place in October or November.

Opinion polls suggest that PiS will remain the largest party but lack a parliamentary majority.

Holding onto voters won over by the 500+ programme will be key if the government is to remain in power, analysts say, and PiS has made the increase in benefits to 800 zlotys ($199) per month for each child from 500 zlotys previously a key plank of its campaign.

"PiS must pursue such a policy because some of its voters do not have right-wing views but supported PiS because of their economic interests. To retain this group's backing, PiS must introduce such reforms," said Rafal Chwedoruk, a political scientist at Warsaw University.

Liberal opposition party Civic Platform (PO), which opposed the introduction of 500+ when it was first proposed, have called on the government to make the increase effective immediately to help families cope with the soaring cost of living.

PiS puts the cost of the increase in child benefits at 24 billion zlotys, or around 0.7-0.8% of gross domestic product (GDP).

($1 = 4.0276 zlotys)

(Reporting by Alan Charlish; Editing by Gareth Jones)