(Barbados Nation) Government’s newest proposals for pension reform are fair and reasonable, declared Prime Minister Mia Amor Mottley yesterday.
However, she added, that did not mean they could not be adjusted if the country’s growth continued on an upward trajectory.
“It can’t happen next year or in the next three years,” she told Barbadians during an almost two-hour nationally televised address from Ilaro Court. “But we will have to do actuarial reviews like medical check-ups.”
The Prime Minister said Government had chosen to protect people who were already 60 years old, but more importantly, would stretch out how Barbadians’ pensions were affected, since the retirement age would not move to 67.5 years until 2028, and to 68 years until 2034.
Add to that, Barbadians pensioners are by far the best remunerated in the Eastern Caribbean, she said.