Finance Minister Amir Khasru Mahmud Chowdhury has directed authorities to make the country's universal pension scheme more comprehensive and effective, asking that at least one member from each of the nearly four crore families be brought under the programme by 2030.
The minister also expressed a positive stance on introducing a Shariah-based pension scheme, ensuring lifelong pension benefits for nominees and including outsourcing workers under the initiative.
The directives were given at a high-level meeting on the "Progress, Challenges and Future Action Plan of the Universal Pension Scheme" held at the Finance Minister's office on Tuesday.
The meeting was presided over by the Finance Minister. National Pension Authority Executive Chairman Dr Md Suratuzzaman, Finance Secretary Dr Md Khairuzzaman Majumder and other senior officials concerned were present.
In the meeting, the Executive Chairman of the National Pension Authority gave a detailed presentation highlighting the current status of the Universal Pension Scheme. It was informed that as of April 30, a total of 377,545 citizens have been registered in these four schemes - Prabas, Pragati, Suraksha and Equality. The amount of deposits in these schemes has stood at around Tk 255.70 crore. And the total investment amount including profit has reached Tk 279.74 crore.
The meeting was informed that about 85 percent of the country's total labor force is still engaged in the informal sector. In addition, the dependency rate of the elderly population may increase from 9.4 percent in 2023 to 24 percent in 2050 and 48 percent in 2075. In this changing demographic reality, emphasis was placed on the need to make the universal pension scheme more strong and inclusive.
At the same time, the Finance Minister said that according to the election manifesto of the current government, the formation of a 'pension fund' to ensure financial security of private sector employees in old age is one of the main commitments. For this, he gave special importance to increasing public confidence, strengthening campaign activities, ensuring cyber security and recruiting skilled and professional manpower.
Sources said at the meeting that the Asian Development Bank has pledged to provide a $100 million concessional loan for the Universal Pension System Strengthening Project, for which feasibility study activities are currently underway.
Pension contributions are now being collected through 45 banks and financial institutions, as well as digital platforms such as bKash, Nagad, and Teletalk Bangladesh. Registration activities are also being conducted through Union Digital Centres.
