ISLAMABAD: The government of Pakistan has announced major changes to the retirement and pension scheme as part of the Budget 2024, to lessen the financial burden on the federal government.
According to the new regulations as cited by local media, government employees who retire and later rejoin government service will only receive a pension from one department. Earlier, they were eligible for pensions from both their current and previous departments.
Furthermore, the pension will now be paid to the family of a pensioner for ten years after their death, whereas earlier, it was only paid for a shorter period of time.
The government has also clarified that government employees, where both husband and wife are employed, will be entitled to both pensions if one of them dies after retirement.
Sources say that these changes are a direct response to the increasing burden of pension payments on the federal government, which has been contributing to the country’s budget deficit.
The decision to modify the pension scheme is said to be a major objective agreed upon in consultations with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as part of efforts to diminish the financial burden.
