ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has drastically reduced pension benefits of retired civil and armed forces personnel to reduce a growing pension bill which has already swelled over Rs 1 trillion.
The Ministry of Finance on Wednesday issued three separate notifications to discontinue multiple pensions, reducing both the first home take pension and also lowering the base for determining future increases in pensions. After debt servicing, defence and development, the pension is the fourth largest expenditure in the budget, the paper said.
According to the Ministry of Finance’s notification, on the recommendations of the Pay and Pension Commission of 2020, “it has been decided that henceforth, in an event where a person becomes entitled to more than one pension, such person shall only be authorised to opt to draw one of the pensions”.