IMF conditions, proposal for Indian-style voluntary pension for government employees

The conditions for the next loan program from the IMF are being worked out, sources said, and in this context, a proposal to provide voluntary pensions to government employees on the Indian model has come forward.

Sources said that preparations have been made to introduce the new Voluntary Pension Scheme from July 1, all the new government recruitments are likely to be done under the Voluntary Pension Scheme.

Sources in the Ministry of Finance have said that the pension will be given to the old recruited government employees from the budget, while a new voluntary pension scheme has been prepared for the new government employees.

The new pension scheme has been developed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the federal government can transfer existing government employees to the new scheme with their consent.

SECP has proposed to implement the new scheme in the public and private sector, the private sector is currently providing provident fund or gratuity facility to the employees.

The SECP recommends that the private sector should provide only voluntary pension schemes to employees, not provident fund or gratuity to provide permanent income to employees on retirement.

Under this scheme, the pension facility will continue even in case of change of job. Currently, 43 pension funds are working in the country, 61 billion rupees have been invested in these funds.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government first invested in pension funds 2 years ago, 21 pension funds of KP government employees are functioning.

On the other hand, the Punjab government is also going to start a voluntary pension scheme for employees.