IMF advises Pakistan government to raise retirement age

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has advised the Pakistan government to raise the retirement age as part of a reform programme to save on rising pensions bill, a media report said Monday.

The IMF has suggested increase in the retirement age as part of public expenditure reforms programme to do away with the rising pension bill due to improved life expectancy rate in the country, the Dawn online reported.

This is one way of reducing the pension bill and making better utilisation of expertise of senior bureaucrats.

Pakistan's federal expenditure on salaries and pensions is estimated at about Rs.450 billion, including pension expenses of about Rs.171 billion for the current financial year, the report said.

Provincial pay and pension bills are much higher than the federal bill.

There have been proposals from the senior bureaucracy for increasing retirement age to 62 years from 60.

But the federal and provincial governments have discouraged such proposals mainly because of political incentive in providing jobs to a growing younger population.