Daily Times

Cabinet members have called for commencing a forensic audit of public sector enterprises (PSEs) for alleged illegitimate spending of their pension funds as the annual pension bill has jumped to Rs470 billion.

The annual pension bill was growing and jumped to Rs470 billion in the fiscal year 2020-21 compared to Rs304 billion in 2016-17, the source told.

Strangely the share of civil servants is estimated at Rs111 billion and for armed forces, it is calculated at Rs359 billion, out of the total pension expense of Rs470 billion.

It was pointed out in a recent meeting of the cabinet that to disclose the wrongdoings forensic audit should be undertaken. In the meeting, the prime minister stressed that renowned international experts should be hired and included in a committee to competently weigh up the best available options as the pension expenditure was fast becoming unsustainable.

PM Khan directed the adviser to the prime minister on finance and revenue to come up with a solid suggestion with necessary timelines.

In between the meeting, it was pointed out that the pension bill was becoming untenable with time in the wake of an increase in the rate of pension and the number of pensioners.

It was noted that it also included different allowances and pension payments by independent bodies were additional conditional liabilities. There were also numerous issues in pension disbursement and family pension.