Slashing pensions

It has been reported that the government intends to introduce pension reforms. It would appear that this is being done, in part, to fulfill obligations to multilateral lenders. One of the proposed reforms is to slash the commutation rate.

A large number of retiring government servants rely on the commuted portion of their pension to meet their financial needs. A cut in the commutation rate will leave their post-retirement plans in limbo. The government should reconsider this aspect of the would-be pension reforms.

Sohail Nasir

Rawalpindi