Minister of State Coye Clarifies Pension Proposal as Gov’t Seeks Union Agreement

As it relates to pension, Minister Coye explained that there has been a misunderstanding, of sorts, when it comes to the contributory pension.  The contributory pension is part of the second round of proposals by the government to the joint unions.  In this round, the government is offering to give a four percent increase in salaries for public officers and teachers but coupled with that is the proposal that new workers be expected to contribute to their pension.  

Christopher Coye, Minister of State (Finance): “The pension reform propositions that’s been on the table, that’s been part of the ongoing discussions between the government and the joint unions for a couple years now. There’s been quite a bit of analysis but what is absolutely clear, certainly what I’ve seen is there has been miscommunication if not misinformation being provided to the public by the joint unions so far as what the reform proposals constitute. There is no proposition that all existing public officers and teachers will immediately have to pay 5% contribution. That’s totally inaccurate. What is in fact the case or what is being put as the proposition is an incremental move from non contributory to a contributory pension plan. There is no non-contributory pension plan for public officers in the entirety of the Caribbean and Latin America. It’s a total anomaly that it continues to exist in Belize. But at the same time,  I think the government recognizes that it has to be a process, there has to be a process both in relation to contribution rate, in relation to retirement age and in relation to the replacement rate, in relation to the contribution rate through the analysis done by the SSB actuary and the IMF is that a contributory pension scheme be introduced in an incremental way over a period of ten years with a half percent increment being introduced each year until you reach the five percent at the end of ten years.”

Another aspect of the second round of proposals is the increase of retirement age to 60 years old.