The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) has increased monthly pensions for the year 2020 by at least 6.6 per cent and overall 11 per cent for the year.
Lowest paid pensioners will this year receive 300 monthly while pensioners who received the minimum of 300 cedis monthly last year will now receive 357.18 cedis.
The 11 per cent is higher than the forecasted inflation rate of 8.0 per cent for 2020.
The 2020 rate of increase was determined using the percentage change in the annual average consumer price index for 2019.
SSNIT also relied on forecast of the 2020 national annual price inflation, ability of the fund to pay and the long term sustainability of the scheme.
Pensioners’ earnings were raised at a fixed rate of 6.6 per cent and a flat amount of 37.38 cedis for all on the SSNIT pension payroll as at December 31, 2019.
With this redistribution, lowest earning pensioners will get an increase of 19.06 per cent of previous earnings.
Also, 70 per cent of pensioners will receive 11 per cent or more as effective increase in their pensions while 98 per cent on the other hand, will receive an effective increase equal to or above the targeted inflation rate for 2020.
Meanwhile SSNIT said it paid a total of 224 million cedis to 216,000 pensioners on the SSNIT payroll, bringing its total expenditure on benefits payment for the year 2019 to 3 billion cedis.
By George Kwaning|3news.com|Ghana
