Increase in life expectancy, migration among working population and decrease in births were among the reasons for moving the pensionable age from sixty to sixty-five years.
Executive Director of the National Insurance Services (NIS), Stewart Haynes, addressed the issue during an interview on NBC Radio last Tuesday.
The pensionable age was changed during the Pension Reform in 2014 but, as Haynes pointed out, the changes are taking place gradually.
“We changed it to move from sixty (60) because at the time of the Reform, that was the lowest retirement age in the region. Further, when we looked at the demographic developments we saw that persons were living longer, an increase in live expectancy, and at the same time that was happening we saw that there was a decline in fertility…… Also we suffered migration among the working population so all of that created a need for a change in the pensionable age,” said Haynes.
“As we speak now in 2020, the pensionable age is 62 and that will go up after 2022,” said the NIS Director on how the process works.
He said that the change in pensionable age means that persons who retire at 60 may have to wait until they are 62 to receive their full pension. “However one can opt to receive their pension at age 60. If your age is 60 and you decides to take your pension and you decides to take your pension at 60 then the pension will be reduced by 12% because you take your pension two years before your pensionable age and it is reduce by 6% per year,” Haynes further explained.