Govt proposes increasing retirement age, pension reforms

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Attaullah Tarar said that the country standing at the crossroads was going through transformation and various reforms were being introduced in multiple sectors.

Addressing a press conference along with Minister for Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb and Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazeer Tarar, he said that the country’s economy was on the right track and all the indicators were positive.

The minister said that international organizations including financial journals had confirmed that the figures about the economic stability were correct.

He said after coming into power, steps were taken by the government to reduce its expenses and privatization of loss-making public sector entities was part of that plan.

“Reforms in pension structure are being mulled in the government institutions across the board”, he remarked.

He said that pensions were a big hurdle in the government plan of curtailing expenditure. He said that life expectancy has increased in the world and various countries had increased the retirement age. He said there was a proposal to increase the age of retirement across the board.

He said that a section of the media was speculating that it was aimed at some specific institution which was incorrect, if approved it would be implemented across the board.

He said so far proposals regarding increasing the upper age limit for retirement and and discussions were being held.

Tarar said that for avoiding fake news and propaganda, efforts were being made to take the people on board on various issues being discussed at government forums.

He said at this stage, various proposals were being discussed at this stage and when any decision would be finalised, the masses would be taken on board.