Jagdeo says PPP gov’t will make ‘major injection’ to help NIS increase pensions

On the heels of a major government venture to support senior citizens with insufficient contributions to the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo said the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) government will continue to support the NIS so that people’s pensions will increase.

“We will make major injections from the treasury- we’ve already done this- we will do that in a major way in the next term, to ensure that the NIS pensions can increase periodically,” Jagdeo said at a party press conference on Thursday.

He later added, “We will have to ensure that the NIS not only remains solvent but can have major injections from the government so that they can meet their obligations to their contributors.”

Jagdeo, who is also the PPP General Secretary, explained that the government is a contributor to the NIS; there are also private contributors to the scheme.

Efforts to continue supporting the NIS join a $10 billion injection to support those senior citizens who do not meet the minimum requirement – 750 contributions – for the NIS pension. Jagdeo said it also adds to government’s achievement of being able to double the old-age pension since 2020.