Universal pension scheme within a year: Finance Minister

The government is set to begin a universal pension scheme for all the citizens of 18-50 years of age, said finance minister AHM Mustafa Kamal on Wednesday.

The facility will be kept open for the expatriate Bangladeshis as well, he added.

Though the system will be optional at the outset, it will be made mandatory later, the minister said.

Mustafa Kamal was talking to the media after a cabinet meeting on government purchases in the afternoon.

The minister said the government would contribute the same amount of money an individual would contribute to the fund to be formed for the purpose. A separate authority will be formed and new laws and regulations would be composed to manage the new scheme, he added.

The authority will invest the money in different sectors. The money that would be earned as profit from the investment will also be distributed among the pensioners, the minister said.

Pressed on, finance minister Mustafa Kamal said it is possible to begin the system within six months to a year. But before that a separate authority will be formed and new laws and regulations would be composed.

Kamal said best global practices will be followed to run and manage the universal pension scheme.

Responding to a question on how much money an individual has to submit every month and how much money that person would get as pension, the minister said the issues are under a process. The authorities will fix those.

The minister also informed media that the government is going to implement its pledge it made before the national elections in 2008.