Ioane Burese in the Fiji Times Friday, November 25, 2011
FOLLOWING todays Budget address, the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) will deliver the reform programs that will support changes to the FNPF legislation.
In announcing the changes, the Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama said there was a serious need to review the pension scheme, as in its current form FNPF would not be able to support Fijis current and future pensioners. FNPF CEO Mr Aisake Taito, reinforced the Prime Ministers words.
We have consulted actuarial and legal experts, as well as the public, to design a pension scheme that will empower our pensioners and provide our members with the pension they deserve in retirement, he said.
As a result, the following changes will be made:
The new FNPF Decree will become effective on 1 March 2012, with a transitional decree to facilitate the changeover from the current Act to the new decree.
A new age-based, actuarially sound pension rate will be implemented on 1 March, 2012.
Current pensioners will be refunded the principal amount they had converted to pension.
Pensioners will then have to choose from a number of new options, such as a new Life Pension or Term Pension.
The above changes will enable FNPF to meet solvency requirements for its current members in accordance and compliance with international best practice. It will also set aside an allocation to cushion the impact for current pensioners, who choose to come back into the new pension scheme, Mr Taito said.
In addition to the major changes, the Fund has also set aside a provision for a top-up scheme to support FNPFs current pensioners.
The top-up policy will protect the most vulnerable and ensure that their transition into the new scheme is a positive one. This money is to be applied by way of top-ups to those who elect to apply all their refund to the purchase of the new Life Pension.
The top-ups will be applied on the purchase of a new Life Pension as follows:
2,500 pensioners who currently receive a monthly pension of below $100 will be brought up to receive $100 a month under the new rates. Some of these pensioners currently receive as low as $5 a month.
4700 pensioners whose income is between $100 to $300 per month will have their pension income protected and continue to receive the same amount as they do currently.
The remaining 4,265 pensioners, who receive over $300 per month, will be offered the most favourable, according to their circumstances, of two options - top-up their new pension level to $300per month or take 25 per cent of their total refund, capped at $10,000.
For the vast majority of our pensioners who continue with the regular Life Pension, there will be no change and many will in fact see their pensions improve. For everyone else, they will get their original pension amount back and they can choose from a number of options available, as well as contributing more to their pension.
6 comments:
You will be pleased you have a democratic New Zealand pension then?
What is this guy harping about/
Fiji had a truncated democracy run by professed racists and what a breath of fresh air from non-democratic leaders who have given a common name to all peoples of Fiji, sent the racists and chiefs into exile, stopped racial discrimination, re-structured Fijian administration, stopped chiefs getting their cut from rental income that belonged to the landowners, taught Methodists to preach the gospel of Christ from the pulpit and not politics... gave a budget that is applauded by the people of Fiji and FNPF that was drained dry by the Qarase govt has recuperated. Who needs the elected crooks when non-elected leaders can deliver better without the wild promises that politicians habitually make. Wake up, man!
Frank had other options that would have achieved what has been achieved to date, without all the negative aspects of his reign. He got himself to close and has in turn become a common criminal let alone dealing with his treasonable acts and dictatorship.
@ Anonymice x 3
"Christmas is coming
the geese are getting fat
Who will put a penny in the old man's hat?
If you haven't got a penny, an annuity will do.
If you haven't an annuity
Then God Bless You!"
FNPF Inc and all its works should stage a performance of
"The Pirates of Penzance"......
they would do very well at it. Failing this, try Charades. No Programme necessary.
The FNPF Sink Hole is likely to prove the Straw that Broke the Camel's Back and it is self-evidently so. Which camel?
The Report is revealing of what has already long been known: conflicts of interest over the past forty years which were revelatory of failures ofintegrity and propriety of all actors at the FNPF. The 'tolu na kalavo mataboko' successively followed those who went before.
No one emerges from this fiasco with credit. But the stakeholders want their Pound of Flesh and not shares in three creme puff Airbus 330s.
The Saga is a fiasco of improper governance with many individuals emerging tarnished, incompetent and incapable of exercise of fiduciary duties to which they were and still are bound. The pensioners also performed poorly in the past in protecting their own interests(should the FNPF Act not do so for them as the Chair and Board were required impartially to do by law) They now choose to set that to rights by putting themselves in the purview of the Supreme Court of Fiji. As is and must always be their right.
This matter is not the sole preserve of the pensioners. It also addresses the standing of contracts in Fiji. It has relevance for us all, whomsoever we may be.
DIEU ET MON DROIT (God and My Right)
@ Dieu Et Mon Droit
Hey bro, your handle - what lingo is that? Is that pakeha/palagi talk? Is it about you trying to impress us members of the great unwashed with your grasp of the Queens England?
And all that talk about Air Busses and sink holes and da three blind mice etc. You left us all confused bro.
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