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‘Ball is now with incoming administration’
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Posted on Jan 04 2006
The NMI Retirement Fund is looking forward to the Fitial administration’s timely payment of financial obligations to the retirees.
“We’re not sure of next payday. It’s the Fitial administration’s turn now. Hopefully, we’ll be able to collect the needed funds,” said Fund administrator Karl T. Reyes.
Gov.-Elect Benigno R. Fitial will be sworn in on Jan. 9.
Last month, the Fund had almost failed to pay off the retirees due to the lack of remittances from government offices. The agency has to release nearly $5 million a month for pension payment.
A new batch of 179 retirees will translate to an additional $4 million a year in pension obligations.
As of last month, the government had been four pay periods behind in employer contributions, amounting to over $3 million in arrears.
The government usually pays $835,000 to $850,000 in employer contribution per pay period.
The government’s contribution rate is now pegged at 36.7 percent but this has not been complied with due to a lack of funding.
The overall debt of the government with the Fund now amounts to $85 million. This reflects the central government’s unpaid employer contributions from December 2001 to present.
The Fund said that payments made by the government are being credited to the oldest accounts covering fiscal years 1998 to 2001.
Payments to the Fund were current until June 1998. The Fund said that the government ceased payments altogether from August 1999 until September 2001.
Total employer contributions paid by the government from October 2001 to September 2005 amounted to $56.3 million.
The Fund said that the government’s previous payment agreement with the agency calls for some $500,000 every pay period. The Babauta administration had increased this to $850,000.
Reyes said the actual amount that the Fund is supposed to collect each pay period from the government is $1.4 million.
