The proposal to raise the retirement age for public servants has stalled, mostly due to strong resistance from influential and powerful sources, as per media reports.
This plan to raise the retirement age for all public sector workers, including those in the military and the civil service, is not going to happen anytime soon. It is believed that further research must be done before making a definitive decision on this matter.
However Islamabad is planning to gradually eliminate ministries of devolved topics, and a proposal to persuade the provinces to shoulder more of the cost of social protection programs like the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) is being considered.
How the government approaches the Higher Education Commission’s (HEC) financial allocation in the process of rationalizing expenditures is still to be seen. To rationalize unchecked government spending, the government established a powerful committee chaired by Minister of Finance Muhammad Aurangzeb. It was anticipated that the committee would not finalize its conclusions until the budget was announced. However, as far, nothing has come of it. In order to complete its recommendations by the end of July or the first week of August, the committee has convened many times. Around August 14, the government could make its results public.
Leading government officials stated that while the likelihood of raising the retirement age from 60 to 62 or 63 for civilian employees and others has decreased thus far, there were still plans for pension reforms, including the potential elimination of provisions pertaining to pension payments for future generations.
Three federal ministers—law, finance, and information and broadcasting—shared a proposal on May 7, 2024, to finalize the pension package and execute it uniformly, which includes raising the retirement age for all public employees, including those in the armed forces, the judiciary, and civilian employment.
