The government would have injected NT$220 billion (US$7.1 billion) into the Public Service Pension Fund by the end of next year since a new pension fund system was launched in July 2018, government data showed.
The Public Service Pension Fund would receive revenue of approximately NT$150.6 billion next year, up 10.92 percent from this year and 24.25 percent from last year, based on the Executive Yuan’s budget plan for next year.
The main reason for the increase is an additional NT$10 billion as a result of a program to streamline the military.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Civil Service
“The new pension fund system would help save NT$210 billion by the end of next year since it was implemented in July 2018. When the additional NT$10 billion is added, the government would have injected a total of NT$220 billion into the fund,” the Executive Yuan said.
The new Public Service Pension Fund system required government workers to raise their contribution by 1 percent from 2021. By this year, the contribution rate had been raised to 15 percent.
The new system also reduces civil servants’ income during retirement, as well as the special interest rates for their savings.
Data from the Public Service Pension Fund Supervisory Board showed that pension reform and the Ministry of National Defense’s program to streamline the military helped save NT$24.07 billion in 2020, NT$38.68 billion in 2021, NT$42.17 billion last year and NT$51.164 billion this year. It is projected to save NT$53.9 billion next year.
All those funds have been injected into the Public Service Pension Fund.
Although the number of people joining the pension fund system increased from 622,197 in 2013 to 671,550 in 2020, the number fell to 665,805 last year.
As the new pension fund system automatically applied to government workers joining the system after July 1 this year, the scale of the fund would definitely be affected by the decrease in the number of people joining the new system, the Executive Yuan said.
The number of people regularly withdrawing from the Public Service Pension Fund rose from 212,943 in 2011 to 386,800 last year, while the amount regularly withdrawn surged from NT$35.77 billion in 2011 to NT$102.34 billion last year.
By 2019, more than 95 percent of the Public Service Pension Fund had been used to pay retirement funds to civil servants.
The budget for payments from the Public Service Pension Fund next year is forecast to increase 5.65 percent to NT$ 118.64 billion, the government data showed.
The budget is expected to increase as average life expectancy rises, the Executive Yuan said.
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