A unified pension law promises to take care of senior citizens in their twilight years, reports Reem Leila The Ministry of Finance submitted a revision of the pension law to the People's Assembly three weeks ago, in the hope that a new integrated legislation will be passed in the next few months. Minister of Finance Youssef Boutros Ghali told parliament recently that the World Bank will help overhaul the current pension system to make it a "unified social insurance" law. This would widen the base of beneficiaries without adding any financial burdens on the government's budget. The new law will further protect pension benefits to ensure a decent life for the retiree and his family after he stops working. Ghali's adviser, Hisham Tawfik, noted that "in addition to pensions, developing and expanding the social insurance net has been always a top priority, especially with regard to "the lowest-income and most needy strata." The new law will lower the percentage of an employee's contribution to his pension from the current 40 per cent to around 12-17 per cent, which the employer pays, and the government will contribute the remaining sum. According to the new law, widowers will be able to collect the pension of their deceased wives -- unlike in the past. "The number of widowers, and hence households, benefiting from this amendment is nearly 250,000," according Tawfik. The law also stipulates that this benefit is only valid if the widower does not remarry, which "opens the door for urfi [unregistered] marriages," regretted Tawfik. According to recent figures released by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS), the number of citizens over the age of 60 is climbing. Also, those covered by social insurance amount to only 13 per cent in the informal sector, 25 per cent in the private sector, and a whopping 89 per cent in the public sector. Low coverage in both scope and quality has resulted in increased poverty among senior citizens, a serious problem since the older population in Egypt will surpass the younger for the first time in history by the year 2050, according to recent UN reports. The social security pension began in 1950 and today covers more than seven million citizens. The government is responsible for providing pensions to anyone who reaches the age of 60 and those who suffer permanent disability, which is mostly financed by employers, employees and the government. The pension system was developed and amended several times over the years, resulting in several co-existing systems. These include the general pension law of 1936 which covers basic pensions; 1950's social security pension covering those without a source of regular income; the Sadat social insurance system created in 1978 covering those who suffer total disability and those over 65 whose income is less than LE70 monthly. The unified law includes new benefits for pensioners, such as increasing the minimum pension in the case of work-related injury leading to total disability from a maximum of 60 per cent of wages to 80 per cent. It will also include new categories of beneficiaries, extending social insurance protection to all citizens including informal sector labourers and vendors. Workers in neither public nor private companies will enjoy the same benefits as his peers at age 60, by choosing one of three options: depositing fixed monthly installments in a credit account and withdrawing an agreed upon sum of money upon retirement; depositing different sums in a personal pension account to be withdrawn upon retirement; creating an investment fund which would be privately managed and revenues routinely added to the initial value of the investment.
