Government is taking concrete steps for the welfare of the retired civil servants:Minister for Finance

Lahore: Provincial Minister for Finance and Education, Mian Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman has said that Punjab Government is taking concrete steps for the welfare of the retired civil servants/pensioners. He expressed satisfaction with the way the Punjab Pension Fund has established itself as a credible and well managed institution and expressed the resolve that fund would continue to play an important role in prudent management of the pension liabilities of the province.

He said that Punjab pension fund is a separate legal entity created through Punjab Pension Fund Act for management of funds set aside by Government of the Punjab for meeting future pension liabilities of its employees. He expressed these views while presiding over the 14^th meeting of Management Committee of Punjab Pension Fund. The meeting was attended by Chief Secretary Nasir Mehmood Khosa, Chairman P&D, Finance Secretary, Secretary Services, Secretary Law, General Manager and two private sector members. The Management Committee welcomed Muhammad Ramzan, who is SEVP and Head of Treasury at MCB Bank, as the fourth private sector member of the committee.

The committee approved the audited Financial Statement and Annual Report of Punjab Pension Fund for the financial year ended 30 June 2012. While presenting the financial statement and the Annual Report, the Finance Secretary of Punjab explained that the size of the fund at the end of financial year 2011-12 was Rs. 15.61 billion. The Fund earned a net profit of Rs. 1.9 billion in financial year 2011-12 which translated into a net return of 13.79% for the year and a spread of 2.53% above CPI inflation which stood at 11.26% for the year. The committee approved operational budget of Rs. 25 million for the fund for financial year 2012-13. The committee also decided to carry out actuarial valuation of pension liabilities and to determine funding strategy based upon such valuation.

The General Manager Punjab Pension Fund mentioned that Funds investment performance had remained consistent over the four years since its inception. The fund earned an average compound return of 13.92% p.a. over the four year period from July 2008 to June 2012 which was better than average compound growth in inflation of 12.54% over the same four year period, it concluded.