Senior Minister in the Office of the President with Responsibility for Finance Dr. Ashni Singh, in keeping with an announcement made by President Irfaan Ali today, has instructed that with effect from July 2023, National Insurance Scheme (NIS) pension payments will now be paid from the first working day of every month to align with Old Age Pension (OAP) payments. Previously, NIS pension payments were made from the first Monday of every month.
This is part of Government’s broader agenda to improve, modernize and streamline its service–delivery to citizens. Other measures taken thus far by the administration have been the NIS Online Contribution Checking System (OCCS) which is expected to reduce the incidence of inaccuracies, the WhatsApp life certificate hotline, WhatsApp Queries Textbook Service and NIS Live Chat.
NIS payments are paid via the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), Commercial Banks and at NIS local offices countrywide and other payment options are currently being considered by Government.
Recently Government expanded the payment options for OAP to include Mobile Money Guyana (MMG). This adds to the existing options of the Guyana Post Office Corporation (GPOC), MoneyGram, Western Union, Sure Pay and Commercial Banks.
A priority of the Government when it assumed office in 2020 was to address the complaints received from contributors to the NIS with pending claims at the time amounting to 14,000 as at November 2020. In support of this effort, Government at Cabinet level, undertook a series of nationwide outreach sessions that took the services of NIS to the citizens. Persons across the country have benefitted from these sessions, many of whom are in receipt of Old Age Pension after waiting for a number of years. Of the 14,000 pending claims inherited in 2020, over 12,000 have been addressed.
Government remains committed to improving the quality of service it provides to contributors and pensioners. (Ministry of Finance press release)
