God has listened to our prayers - National Pensioners Association on 25% increment

The Social Security and National Insurance Trust (SSNIT) on Friday, January 15, 2023 announced a 25% increment in the monthly pension payments.

All legitimate pensioners on the SSNIT pension payroll as of the end of December 2022 will have their monthly pensions increased by a fixed rate of 19 per cent, plus a redistributed flat amount of GH¢73.58.

Reacting to this in an interview with GhanaWeb, the General Secretary of the National Pensioners Association, Stephen Boakye, noted that his outfit was taken aback upon hearing the announcement.

According to him, they were expecting less than the 10% increment pensioners received last year due to the current economic challenges.

Mr Boakye stated categorically that he was surprised as the 25% increment is about 150% more than what they received last year.

He stressed that God has listened to their prayers.

"We are very grateful for SSNIT. We were not expecting that we will get this percentage. To be frank, looking at COVID-19 and its related problems coupled with the current air that is blowing in the whole world economically, we were even thinking that we will get less than the 10% we had last year but surprisingly, this is 25% which is about 150% of last year's, we are very grateful," he told GhanaWeb Business in an interview.

"God has listened to our prayers, we are very happy and our people too will be happy..." he stated.

Meanwhile, the highest pensioner in Ghana will from this year earn an amount of GH¢169,725.89.

This was disclosed by the Chief Actuary of Social Security and National Insurance Scheme (SSNIT), Joseph Poku.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra on Friday, January 13, 2023, Mr Poku said the lowest pensioner, on the other hand, will receive GH¢430.58, an increase of 43.53%

The redistribution method adopted by SSNIT is a mechanism applied to the indexation rate to cushion members on low pensions in conformity with the solidarity principle of social security.

He noted that a total of GH¢5 billion will be distributed by the pension scheme this year to beneficiaries.



ESA