A Turkish parliamentary commission accepted late on Monday a draft bill that includes a rise in minimum monthly pension payments which will cost the state 150 billion lira ($7.86 billion) this year.

Under the draft prepared by President Tayyip Erdogan's AK Party (AKP), the government will increase the monthly minimum pension payment for each person to 7,500 lira from 5,500 lira.

Erdogan announced the increase last week, less than two months before presidential and parliamentary elections in May, the biggest test of his more than two decades in office.