The Minister of Public Service and Human Resource Development has announced an increment in the monthly payment of pension for retired government officials from 200 to 2,500 SSP.

The increment is aimed at meeting the current market price. Joseph Bakasoro told SSBC on Wednesday.

Pension is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee’s employment years, and from which payments are drawn to support the person’s retirement from work in the form of periodic payments.

Bakasoro calls on pensioners to contact the national pension fund for clarification.

He stated that the increment came after a board resolved to elevate the pensioners’ standard of living amid the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have decided to increase the amount to be paid to pensioners; those who were getting 200 pounds which, is a very little amount, are now going to get 2500 SSP,” Bakasoro explained.

“And then it will go according to their performance, grade and calculation, but at least the minimum for any pensioner to receive is 2500 as from today.”

Last year, South Sudan launched a scheme on payment of pensions for retired government officials more than seven years after the country gained independence from Sudan.

The then Minister of labor, James Hoth Mai said during the launch of the scheme in Juba that the first group of 235 pensioners were to receive their benefits last year.

But until now, it is not clear if the first group of 235 pensioners have received their benefits.

Since July 2011 thousands of South Sudanese pensioners have not received their retirement benefits as their money was stacked in Sudan’s banks.