$3,000 Pension coming in new budget

Seniors 65 and over can expect in the new budget the $3,000 a month pension promised during the general election campaign.

Finance Minister Winston Dookeran told the Sunday Express there might have been an expectation that this increase would have been applied across the board to all pensioners, including NIS pensioners who currently receive $2,000 a month.

"There is a medium to long term proposal for a universal harmonised pension plan. And within the context of this plan, there was a specific provision in the People’s Partnership manifesto to increase pensions to $3,000.

"We would have liked to do this universally but that might take some time. So we would do it in stages," he said. Dookeran added that the aim is to move in the direction of a universal harmonised pension "but I don’t think we can afford to do that in this budget".

He said such a move would be possible if the figures turn up otherwise and it is affordable. The minister explained that the National Insurance Board and the Ministry of Finance are working out the cost of the proposal.

He said the first goal is to have this $3,000 pension for persons over 65 years. The People’s Partnership had initially promised to carry down the pensionable age to 60 years. But this would not be possible right now.

Dookeran said he anticipates two more years of budget deficits and warned of some austerity measures to put the thing back in order but he was careful to note that there is no reason for panic.

He also said property owners can be assured that they would not have to pay the new property tax.

"The commitment we made was that we would not tax homeowners; that was part of our mandate and we are committed to meeting it," he said.

Dookeran also spoke about the CL Financial issue, noting that the manning government "took a systemic risk and made it into an economy-wide risk" and created "innumerable problems".

"It is a case where policy mistakes have cost us dearly...And we have to find ways to stop the bleeding that is already taking place," he said.

Dookeran has appointed a three-man team comprising Steve Bedeshi, Wendell Mottley and Colin Soo Ping-Chow to look into the CLICO matter.

Commenting on the Hindu Credit Union (HCU) problem Dookeran said the public interest requires Government to protect depositors.

He said the extent of help will depend on the State's financial capacity, so he prefers not to make any commitment.