Finance minister AMA Muhith on Sunday hinted that the organised private sector would be covered under the pension schemes in future alongside the existing national pension scheme for government officials and employees. ‘There are some 20 lakh government officials and employees under the national pension scheme and if it is implemented at the organised private sector, then the number would rise to 50 lakh,’ he said.
The finance minister was addressing the National Dialogue1 on the Draft National Social Protection Strategy of Bangladesh held at the NEC in city’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar on Sunday organised by the General Economics Division of the Planning Commission.
Chaired by planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal, social welfare minister Syed Mohsin Ali and PM’s economic affairs Moshiur Rahman spoke on the occasion as special guests.
Cabinet secretary M Musharraf Hossain Bhuiyan, who is also the chairman of the core committee of the draft strategy, spoke on the occasion while Bangladesh Bank governor Atiur Rahman also spoke.
GED member Shamsul Alam made the keynote presentation at the dialogue.
Speaking on the occasion as the chief guest, the finance minister said that the election manifesto of the present government envisioned that initiatives for introducing pension schemes would have to be launched in all private organisations by 2018 while by 2021 social security would have to be ensured.
Muhith also underscored the need for a national database for the various pension schemes to avert overlapping and remove the errors.
‘We’ll now have to have a farsighted thinking for our social safety net programmes as in the next five years, we’re 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,’ he added.
The finance minister also claimed that the extreme poverty rate in the country is now 11 per cent while poverty rate is at 26 per cent.
He also proposed changing the Strategy to ‘National Plan for Social Security’
Muhith also underscored the need for giving emphasis on social protection, pension scheme and social security for all in the proposed National Social Protection Strategy.
Planning minister AHM Mustafa Kamal said that due to the proactive role of the immediate past government and the present government, the country’s poverty rate came down to around 26 per cent from 40 per cent.
He said that the some changes could be made in the existing social safety net programmes to make them more effective.
-With New Age input
