The finance minister said that, following the example of other countries, the government has also established a pension fund. An amount of Rs10 billion has been allocated to it.
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had in his inaugural speech in the National Assembly announced a 10pc increase in payouts for pensioners with effect from April 1. The finance ministry had already notified the 10pc increase in net pension for all civil employees of the federal government, including those paid from defence estimates, as well as retired armed forces personnel and civil armed forces personnel. This was the reason the finance minister did not mention any increase in pensions in his budget speech.
A sum of Rs530 billion has been set aside in the budget for pensions of retired employees, including armed forces retirees.
President Dr Arif Alvi had also approved a 10pc increase in the salaries and allowances of superior court judges just a day earlier.