Government finds many obstacles to universal pension

A Finance Ministry report on the possible structure of the universal pension scheme was placed in a ministry meeting on Thursday to finalise the steps to be taken for implementing a national pension scheme. Another shortcoming of private sector pension funds was that insolvent firms are unable to pay their staff back on their contributory pension funds, the report said. Finance Minister AMA Muhith told Dhaka Tribune on Thursday: “Our main goal will be to bring private sector employees under a national pension scheme.” “We will prepare a law within six months in which the private sector will come under that pension scheme and we hope that a private sector pension scheme will be implemented within two years,” he said. According to the report, an absence of government monitoring and pension management along with the absence of a law regarding private sector employees are the main obstacles. In absence of a guideline and a law, the tendency of the owners of private sector firms is to use the money contributed to employees to provident funds for other purposes. There is no opportunity and provision to use the private sector provident and pension funds in the country’s investment arena, the report revealed. Private firms are not interested in providing the deposited contributory provident funds or pension to their staff. There is no opportunity to transfer provident funds and pension money to another employer when a private sector worker gets a new job, the report said. Former FBCCI president Kazi Akram Uddin Ahmed said it would not be possible to implement the proposed scheme without talking to stakeholders and bringing an amendment to the labour law of 2006. He said the government also needs to inject necessary funds into the scheme. A total of 181,000 firms are registered under the Office of the Registrar of Joint Stock Companies and Firms. Of these firms, 71% are private and public companies and 22% are partnership firms.