PENSION FUND SURPLUS

At a meeting today of the Nedlac task team that has been discussing the issue of Pension Fund Surpluses, it was agreed that a request would be made to the Ministry of Finance to extend the deadline for the Nedlac parties to attempt to resolve their differences on proposed draft legislation on how to deal with pension fund surpluses. The legislation would stipulate to whom pension fund surpluses should be distributed.

Parties agreed to set up a technical committee which would look at issues such as minimum benefits due to employees, the obligation of the employer and the effect on financing of the funds. The committee has been given a deadline of the 15th July to report back to the task team with recommendations.

A meeting of the task team has been scheduled for 11 July for further negotiations on the substantive issues.

The Ministry of Finance had previously indicated that if parties were unable to reach agreement by the end of this month, it would have to take a political decision and go ahead with the tabling of draft legislation in Parliament.