Minister Duguid: We must protect pensions for the next generation 

Senior Minister Dr William Duguid insists the Government must act in the interests of all Barbadians and proceed with proposed reforms to stabilise the National Insurance Scheme. In a statement, he says hard decisions must be taken now to protect the scheme for generations to come.

Below is the full statement: 

In response to public concern over the NIS stabilization and protection reforms, Dr. Duguid said, “The NIS stabilization and protection reform is not easy, but, it must be done to protect the NIS for future generations. After a lifetime of hard work, our seniors deserve to retire with dignity and we must not be reckless with NIS in a way that will put the entire scheme at risk of collapse.

“We must be proud of the fact that Barbados has the highest pension payments in the region and this plan protects those payments for generations to come.

“By God’s good graces, Barbadians are living longer than ever before and we celebrate that fact. But, it means people are drawing on their pensions longer than ever before and this has a cost.

“Our population is not growing, in fact, it is shrinking. So, we don’t have a lot of new money coming into the system to ensure that it can pay out it’s obligations to our seniors. In order to ensure that NIS can continue to pay seniors for generations to come, action must be taken.

“If we are able to grow our economy or population significantly in the years to come, it is possible that we could reverse the age increase. But, kicking the can down the road or not making the hard decisions could put the entire NIS at risk and risk collapse and bankruptcy for the entire system.

“This government makes responsible decisions. We stabilized our economy after the lost decade under the Dems where the country went bankrupt and basic services like trash collection and bus service came to a halt. And, part of that stabilization is making sure that the NIS is protected for generations to come.”