The government is thinking about bringing the “organised” private sector under a pension scheme alongside the existing one for government employees, Finance Minister AMA Muhith has said.
“There are some 20 lakh government officials and employees under the national pension scheme and if it [the private sector pension scheme] is implemented for the organised private sector, then the number would jump to 50 lakh,” he said.
The minister was addressing the first National Dialogue on the Draft National Social Protection Strategy (NSPS) in the capital yesterday as the chief guest.
Referring to the Awami League’s election manifesto, Muhith said initiatives for introducing pension schemes would have to be launched in all private organisations by 2018 and social security for all has to be ensured by 2021.
Underscoring the need for a national database for the various pension schemes to avert overlapping and removing errors, he said: “We should now have a farsighted thinking for our social safety net programmes. In the next five years, we are certainly going to have a powerful local government, which is one of the biggest promises of this government …the devolution of power and decentralisation of the administration.”
The minister claimed that only about 11% of the country’s population was now in extreme poverty and the rate of poverty was 26%
He also proposed changing the name of the discussed strategy to “National Plan for Social Security.”
Also present at the programme, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said because of the immediate past government’s proactive role, poverty rate had come down to around 26% from 40%.
