Budget proposes pension fund, authority to manage it

Finance Minister AMA Muhith has announced to set up a pension fund and an authority to manage it in his budget proposals for FY 2015-16.

“At present, more than 500,000 retired government employees are enjoying pension benefits,” he said in his budget speech.

There’s no designated fund or authorities to manage these activities, Muhith said, “which may create imbalance in public expenditure management in future”.

He said the government decided to establish a Pension Fund Management Authority to oversee government employees’ pension.

“Initially, we will allocate a certain amount of fund for the authority.”

Apart making pension payments, the fund will invest in different portfolios to implement welfare programmes for pensioners, said Muhith.