Cap to be placed on govt pension withdrawal

The government's new pension scheme will not allow retirees to withdraw more than half of their total pension in the beginning. Finance Minister AMA Muhith made the announcement while speaking to reporters on Thursday at a meeting in the Finance Ministry auditorium after finalising several measures in the new National Pension Scheme. “We have decided to allow only 50% of total pension money of the government pensioners as a part of a provision of the new national pension scheme,” he said. “At present retired government employees are allowed to draw 100% of their pension money in one go. We want to end this practice by government pensioners because after that they have to rely on begging for survival,” he said. Finance Secretary Mahbub Ahmed also attended the meeting. Muhith also said: “We have decided to prepare a national pension scheme within our tenure and you will be able to see the implementation of some of the steps of the new scheme within six months.” Finance Ministry will implement the national pension scheme within two years and the national pension scheme law will be tabled at the cabinet within a couple of months, he said. “We also want to introduce private sector pension under the new national pension scheme,” the minister said. Desk Shegufta