Old age pension, public assistance to rise

Finance Minister Dr Ashni Singh today announced an increase in the old age pension and public assistance payment.

In his 2022 budget presentation, he said:

“This year, we will be increasing the monthly Public Assistance payment from $12,000 to $14,000, benefiting 18,000 persons and providing an additional $432 million in disposable income to these individuals…

“We remain committed to ensuring that those who have served our country over the years and are now advanced in their years are able to enjoy a dignified existence. In this regard, it will be recalled that we increased the old age pension by $20,500 to $25,000 monthly, just last year. This year, we will be increasing the Old Age Pension further from $25,000 to $28,000. This will place an additional $2.3 billion of disposable income in the hands of our 65,000 old age pensioners”.