Finance, commerce and, science and technology adviser Salehuddin Ahmed on Monday asked the National Pension Authority officials to identify the reasons behind unwillingness among citizens about its new schemes.
He also asked them to find out ways to overcome the lack of people鈥檚 confidence in the schemes after the suspension of the newly-introduced scheme Prattay in the face of protests by university teachers.
The finance adviser gave the directives at a meeting with the NPA officials.
He told reporters that the activities of the NPA will be continued.
In August 2023, the former government introduced contributory pension policy instead of the non-contributory one to offset the growing burden of pension allocations on the national budget.
Within a period of just 11 years, the allocations for pension and gratuity benefits more than tripled 鈥擳k聽39,419 crore projected for FY25 which was Tk 11,913 crore in FY14 鈥� mounting pressure on fiscal management by the Finance Division.
In its contributory pension initiative, the government has introduced four instruments 鈥� Probash, Pragati, Surokkha, and Samata 鈥� for citizens aged between 18 years and 50 years.
Under the initiative, the scheme holders have been projected to receive monthly pension benefits at different rates from the retirement age of 60 years based on their monthly contribution.
The new pension programme, however, drew criticism from the economists who said that the programme did not have comprehensive investment plans for the money in profitable ventures.
The NPA officials told the adviser that the recent people鈥檚 uprising and changes in the civil administration had affected the public awareness programe taken earlier.
They also said that tangible progress of pension schemes could be seen in 2033.
Finance secretary Khairuzzaman Mozumder was present at the meeting.
