Till Sunday (October 22) nearly Tk. 12.5 crore has been deposited in the universal pension fund. The government has taken a loan of Tk. 11 crore 31 lakh from this fund through 10-year treasury bonds. Against this loan, the pension authority will get interest at the rate of 10.55 percent from the government.
On Sunday (October 22), Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal inaugurated the investment of the pension fund in a ceremony at the Secretariat.
At this time, the finance minister answered various questions of the journalists about the pension program as well as the overall economic situation.
The finance minister said that the univesal pension fund will be invested by the National Pension Authority in safe and low-risk sources. In this case, priority will be given to government treasury bonds. A possible calculation of how much pension a person would be entitled to by depositing how much for how long is shown.
He also said that the target will be met even if the participation of people in the pension scheme is less as expected. No country has failed in such a program. He said, South Korea has successfully implemented this program. Bangladesh also wants to gradually bring all people under this program.
About 13,000 people participated in the first month after the universal pension scheme was launched on August 17. But the number of people who joined it in the next month is less than 2 thousand. When asked what the reason is for the decline in interest in this regard, National Pension Authority Chairman Kabirul Izdani Khan said that one of the reasons is lack of proper publicity. Meetings have already been held with divisional commissioners of administration, deputy commissioners and upazila nirbahi officers for nationwide campaign.
Responding to a question about what steps the government is taking to increase foreign exchange reserves, the finance minister said, "Covid was a big problem for us. Then one battle after another started. The opportunities available to the government are being used.
In reply to a question about the unusual prices of the goods, the finance minister said that earlier many food items used to come from India. Now it doesn't come like that. Earlier they could pay, now they can't. We have to make arrangements. The government is trying to reduce inflation.
Secretary of Finance Division Md. Khairuzaman Maumdar and Universal Pension Authority Chairman Kabirul Izdani KKhan were present at the event.