President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday met with government officials and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers to discuss pension reforms, with the government planning to delay the retirement age to save the pension fund.
Examination Yuan President John Kuan (關中) and Minister of Civil Service Chang Che-shen (張哲琛) presented reports on the civil servant retirement system during the private meeting, proposing to change the civil servant retirement system from the “rule of 85” to the “rule of 90.”
Under the proposed pension plan, the government will adopt the “rule of 90” system in 2016, and the monthly contribution from the civil servants to the pension fund will increase to 50 percent.
Under the “rule of 90” mechanism, a civil servant can only retire if their age and years in service add up to 90. For example, a civil servant who has reached the age of 65 and has been working for 25 years is eligible for retirement.
Currently, civil servants can retire if their age and years in service add up to 85.
The Ministry of Civil Service also proposed slashing the interest income of civil servants who enjoy an 18 percent preferential rate on their savings account, but planned to keep the benefit for government employees who received a relatively low retirement pension.
Ma said the pension reform proposals show the government’s determination to reform the pension system with an aim to prioritize taking care of the disadvantaged, rather than favoring the wealthy.
Following yesterday’s discussion, the Ma administration plans to present the pension reform measures this week.
Tomorrow, Vice Premier Jiang Yi-huah (江宜樺), who is leading the Cabinet’s task force on pension reform, is to explain the pension reform plan to the KMT legislative caucus.
Ma will formally announce the government’s pension reform measures on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan will hold more public forums to seek consensus before presenting more pension reform plans.
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